#couldn’t tell you if they’re any good i’ll update

[lev1hei1chou]

Cafe Drama

Gojo x reader Genre: Fluff Synopsis: Gojo loves drama when he’s not the center of it Masterlist

"BABE, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!"

You almost dropped your phone. Not a hello, not even a 'Hey, how are you?' Just Gojo, screaming into the phone, voice filled with eagerness.

"Satoru, what—"

"So I was on this mission, right?" he interrupts, not bothering to wait for you response. "And I decided to take a break at this cute little cafe. You know the type, rustic charm, overpriced lattes, the works."

"Uh-huh," You reply, already grinning because you know this is going to be good.

"Okay, so I’m sitting there, minding my own business, trying to decide between a macchiato and a cappuccino—very important stuff, obviously—when suddenly, BAM! The couple at the table next to me starts arguing."

You can almost see his eyes sparkling with glee as he recounts this. Gojo loves drama when he’s not the center of it.

"So, naturally, I tune in. It’s like my own private soap opera. The guy’s all like, 'I can’t believe you did that!' and she’s like, 'Well, maybe if you paid more attention to me instead of your stupid phone!' Classic stuff. Anyway, they’re getting louder and louder, and I’m just sitting there, sipping my coffee, trying not to laugh."

"Of course you were," You chuckle, shaking your head. "You love a good train wreck."

"Exactly! But it gets better. The guy stands up, and I think he’s going to storm out, but no. He leans in, gets all serious, and says, 'You’re being irrational.' Which, by the way, never helps. She stands up too, and I’m like, 'Oh boy, here we go.' She picks up her glass of juice—orange, if you’re wondering—and I’m thinking, 'No, she wouldn’t.' But she did. SHE DID, BABE!"

"She threw the juice?"

"Right in his face! Full-on, slow-motion movie style. It was beautiful. Juice everywhere. The guy’s just standing there, dripping, looking like a soggy, defeated puppy. And the whole cafe goes silent."

You couldn’t help but burst out laughing, picturing the scene in your head. "Did anyone say anything?"

"Oh, the barista tried to act professional, but you could tell she was dying inside. Everyone’s just staring, and the guy, poor guy, he wipes his face and says, 'You know what? I don’t need this.' And then he slips on the juice! He didn’t fall, but it was close. Very close. He regained his dignity just enough to leave the cafe without actually hitting the floor."

You're laughing so hard now, with tears forming in the corners of your eyes. "Did you do anything? Or just watch?"

"Me? Oh, I applauded."

"No you didn’t!"

"I did! How could I not? It was a stellar performance. I gave her a standing ovation. I think she appreciated it, too. She bowed before storming out. Quite the exit. Ten out of ten."

You could barely breathe. "Only you, Gojo, would turn someone’s breakup into your own personal entertainment."

"Hey, I’m just here to enjoy the show life puts on for me. And to share it with you, of course. How’s your day going? Any juice-throwing incidents I should know about?"

"Sadly, no. My day has been quite boring compared to yours. Just paperwork and a slightly burnt grilled cheese."

"Tragic. I’ll have to take you to that cafe sometime. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see round two."

"As tempting as that sounds, I think I’ll pass on the drama. But thank you for the update, babe. You always know how to make my day."

"Anything for you, babe. Now, tell me more about this grilled cheese situation. Burnt, you say? Sounds like a crisis."

You giggled, settling back into the couch, feeling the warmth of his ridiculous story still lingering. "Well, it started with the toaster oven malfunctioning..."

[guiltypleasurecreative]

Best Friend Vacation

Best friends Harry and Y/N have been the best of friends for nearly a decade. They’re such close friends they take an annual vacation together, just the two of them. This trip, however, may just be the one that changes things.

Contents: Explicit depictions of sex, fluff

6.6k words

“Oh, my goodness. Harry! This is so nice!”

“Yeah, I think this is the nicest one yet.” Harry set the luggage just inside the door of the cabin you rented for the week. It had been a long drive, but it was still early afternoon—plenty of time to relax and enjoy the day.

You couldn’t say anymore who’s idea it was, but for the last five or six years you and Harry have taken a friends vacation together. One year, you invited some mutual friends, and it wasn’t as fun or relaxing, so you stuck to just the two of you. Things were so much better this way.

After nearly nine years of friendship, you two were super close. You two hung out most weekends and recently had spent many weeks planning this trip to a forested mountainous town close enough to the coast that you could smell the salty ocean air.

“Which room do you want, Harry?”

“I wake up earlier than you, so I want the one with the view. I want my morning tea with a view.”

“I can enjoy the same view when I wake at noon.”

“I’m calling it, Y/N,��� he smiled at you and picked up your bags, setting them into the other room – the one without a view, apparently. “Look! Yours has an en suite with a big bathtub.”

You walked further into the room and saw there was a large claw foot tub. “Wow, I don’t remember this on the listing.”

“Me either. Maybe its new and they just haven’t updated the listing yet?”

He turned around to face you, but you only shrugged.

“Let’s put the groceries away, and we’ll figure out what to see first. Maybe we just hang out here and jump in the jacuzzi?”

“Are you hungry?” Harry asked as you entered the house. You’d spent the afternoon in the jacuzzi with a bottle of Moscato. When the bottle was empty you and Harry decided it was time to go inside.

“Getting there.”

“Let’s get cleaned up then I’ll make dinner?”

“Sounds good.”

When you got out of the shower you heard the sound of chopping coming from the kitchen.

“Hey.” Harry greeted you while chopping heirloom tomatoes. “I thought we could have something light. We have burrata and pesto so I’m making a nice tomato salad. I’ve got some garlic bread in the oven.

“That sounds lovely. What can I do?” You took the towel from your hair and draped it over a chair at the kitchen counter.

“Nothing. Go pick a movie.” He smiled as he mixed the tomatoes in with the pesto then seasoned it with salt and pepper.

“What do you feel like watching?” You walked to the living room and turned on the giant television.

“Whatever. What about that movie you were telling me about on the drive up?”

Harry put the burrata in the center of a serving plate and the tomatoes around it. Harry always had a knack when it came to making food look as good as it tasted. On another plate he piled the garlic bread then took it out to the living room where you sat on the couch, remote control in hand.

“Can you grab us some drinks?” Harry asked as the plates on the coffee table. He looked up and saw that you had on a very tiny pair of pajama shorts.

“Of course. Beer okay?”

“Y/N, didn’t you pack any pants? You’re not even wearing socks!”

“I was hot after my shower!”

“Yeah, but as soon as you sit down, you’re gonna get cold. And what are you gonna do? You’re going to tuck your cold ass feet under me!”

“But you’re always so warm!”

“Y/N...get socks at least.” Harry was behind you in the kitchen now grabbing two small plates and utensils.

“Yes, dad.” You smirked, knowing you were annoying him.

“Fine, don’t listen. But you can’t tuck your cold feet under me and I’m not letting you warm up your fingers on me either.”

“Just grab me a blanket if you’re so worried, damn.”

Harry smacked your ass then called you a brat under his breath.

“Bastard! I almost dropped the bottles!” Harry only turned around and winked at you in response.

Harry sat on the couch. When you sat down, he handed you a plate then served you.

“This was a good idea, Har. Something nice and light after all that crap we ate for lunch.”

“Actually, I wanted something lighter because I want ice cream with all the toppings later.”

You rolled your eyes and pressed play on the movie.

The two of you ate in a comfortable silence.

“Pause it for me please? I’m going to put the leftovers away.”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks. And get some socks! It still gets chilly at night.” He smacked your ass again as you got up from the couch.

“Are you going to bitch at me every night? We are never taking a vacation in the Spring again. Summer only.”

“Then I’ll just bitch at you about staying hydrated in the heat.” He smiled up at you as he laid down on the couch.

“You’re insufferable.”

“I’m your best friend. You know you love me! Hurry up, the plot was just getting good.”

You put the leftovers away then went to your room to grab socks out of your luggage. When you returned to the living room you sat down by Harry’s head and made a big show of putting on your socks.

Harry smiled and gave your thigh a light squeeze. “Thank you.”

The movie was pretty good, not what you had expected, but it was enjoyable. When it was over you stood up and stretched, looking down at Harry.

“I think I’m going to bed. You want me to get you some ice cream before I go?”

“Nah, I don’t really feel like it anymore. I think I’ll go read my book. Thanks.” Harry stretched before standing up, too.

“Alright. Good night, Har.”

“Night. Sleep well.” He kissed you on the top of your head and squeezed your shoulder before walking to his room.

When you reached your room, you took your time washing up then climbed in bed. You scrolled your phone for a bit, but you couldn’t quite relax. Thankfully, you brought your toy with you.

You got out of bed and looked for it in your luggage. Quickly, you realized it wasn’t in that particular bag, so you searched your other bag, but had no luck. In frustration you flipped on the bedside light and dumped both bags onto the bed.

A few minutes later you were folding your clothes and putting them back in your luggage, defeated. A knock on your door startled you.

“Y/N?”

“Come in.”

“Everything okay? I got up and saw your light was on.” Harry was dressed in sleeping pants with a matching unbuttoned shirt. He had obviously just thrown it on just to leave his bedroom.

“I forgot my vibrator,” you sighed.

Harry chuckled. “Oh, no. A sexually frustrated Y/N is no fun at all.”

You rolled your eyes. “Go to bed, Harry.”

He sat down on the bed, watching you put your things back into your bag. “Oh, come on. Don’t get all bent out of shape. You still have hands.”

You stopped what you were doing just to smack Harry in the arm. “You think if that worked for me, I’d be upset right now?”

“What? So it won’t feel as nice. It’ll still take the edge off.”

You put your bags away and flopped on the bed next to Harry. “No, like, I can’t get there at all without help. Trying just makes me more frustrated.”

After a moment of silence, you reached over to turn off the lamp on the bedside table. “You staying or going? I’m just going to go to sleep.” You didn’t wait for an answer before you settled under the covers again and prepared to sleep.

“Would you like my help?”

With a hearty laugh you swiped your hand down Harry’s face. “Close your eyes and go to sleep Harry.”

“No, I’m serious. Thinking about your toy got me all worked up, too.” You didn’t respond so he continued. “My hand isn’t as fun either. Why don’t we help each other out?”

Is he for real?

“Harry, did the heat from the jacuzzi get to your head?” You chuckled and reached out for his hand and closed your eyes again.

“No, but all my blood is rushing south. Maybe that’s it.”

You opened your eyes again and looked down at his pants. The room was dark, but you could still see he wasn’t lying. He was sporting a bit of a hard on and you let out a breathy laugh. “You’re ridiculous sometimes, you know that?”

“Mmm. Night, Y/N.”

Harry said good night but made no move to go back to his bed. You two had slept together on who knows how many occasions. It was never a big deal, but tonight felt different. You had never fallen asleep next to him while he had a hard on. Or at least not that you knew of.

The two of you laid together quietly before you spoke up. “Okay. Let’s help each other out. I’m not gonna sleep in this state. You can’t be too comfortable either.”

“Y/N?”

“Oh, come on. You make the suggestion then get shy on me? Besides, we’ve seen each other naked before.”

“You’ve seen me because you never knock anymore, but I don’t recall ever seeing you,” he said with a laugh.

“Wow, Harry. Thanks. Good to know it was memorable.”

“I’m serious! I don’t remember. When?”

You turned your body to face him, and he did the same.

“You’ve seen my breasts I don’t know how many times!”

“Breasts don’t count! You’ve seen mine too.” Harry laughed again.

“We really lack boundaries, don’t we?” You giggled.

“Nah, I think we’re just comfortable with each other.”

“Maybe,” you laughed, “but breasts count.”

“Breasts do not count,” Harry countered.

“Okay, well, this is your chance to see the rest of me. Are up for it?”

Harry sat in silence for a moment. “I’m game. My situation hasn’t gone away yet.”

You laughed, “I can’t believe we’re gonna do this. We’re so stupid.”

“We’ve been stupider,” Harry answers, causing both of you to laugh harder.

Harry cleared his throat in an attempt to stop his laughter. “So, we’re serious about this?”

“Yeah, why not. We’ve been stupider right?” You smiled at your best friend.

“Like that time we got lost in Rome after letting our cell phones die?” Harry sat up and put his hand on your knee.

“God, that was so dumb. I still don’t know how we managed to find our way back to the hotel.”

The two of you broke out into a fit of laughter again.

“So. Any hard boundaries? Things that you like?”

“Harry, I’m not discussing my kinks with you. We’re just going to scratch this itch and go to bed.”

“Okay, okay. You afraid I’ll judge you if I find out you like your hair pulled?”

You were a little surprised. “How did you know that?”

Harry shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

“Ugh, you know me too well.” You got comfortable on the bed and Harry moved to stand on his knees between your legs. He rested his hands on your knees.

“That I do, but I still don’t know where you draw the line.”

“Uhhh. I like dirty talk, but nothing degrading. Nothing rough. I don’t like pain.”

“I could have guessed that,” Harry chuckled.

“What about you? Any no-goes?”

“No, I’ve always really enjoyed wherever the act takes me,” he laughed.

“You’re such a man,” you joked.

Harry shrugged out of his unbuttoned shirt. “Do you…want me to play with you?”

“That feels a bit too intimate, don’t you think?”

“More intimate than sex? Not really. And unless you want to start this with no warmup all dr—”

“Okay. Uh, you could…you could touch me?”

“Sure.” He kissed your forehead and moved from between your legs to lay down beside you. He looked in your eyes as he rested his head on your pillow. He rubbed your stomach, just below your navel. When he moved his hand in gentle circles, his fingers grazing the waistband of your shorts.

“Wanna take these off?” His voice was soft and quiet.

“Yeah.” You looked down at your waist where Harry’s hands still laid. You lifted your hips to take off your shorts and underwear.

Harry groaned and looked back up at your face. “Can I go lower?”

You nodded, not saying a word. He slid his hands lower, barely grazing over your clit on his way to run his fingers between your folds. Your mouth fell open with a sharp intake of breath. His face mirrored yours, clearly drunk on your pleasure.

He played with you for a bit as both of you watched his fingers dip low to gather your arousal and bring it to your clit. He felt amazing. You closed your eyes and focused on your growing pleasure.

“Y/N?”

“Yes?” You opened your eyes and focused on his face. You could see his arm flexing out of the corner of your eye and it was driving you mad.

“It’s getting painful.” He chuckled uncomfortably.

“Fuck! Sorry!” You got up on your knees, forcing Harry to pull his hand away. “Lie back.”

Harry laid on his back and tucked an arm under his head, watching you.

“Can I take these off?” You kneeled between his legs with both hands on his pants.

“’Course.” He lifted his hips to help you take off his pajama pants. You tugged his pants all the way off of his legs. When you looked back up at him, he had his fingers pressed to his face. “You smell really good.”

You shuddered. It was always such a turn on when a partner enjoyed the smell of you. Without taking his eyes away from you he licked his fingers.

You let out a moan. “Really?”

“It’s a huge turn on for me.” Harry had a broad grin on his face.

“Me too. Never thought we’d know that about each other.”

Harry laughed, prompting you to laugh, too. When you felt a throbbing in your core you decided to get serious.

“Spit.” You held your hand out to his mouth. Harry furrowed his brows. “I mean, unless you like it dry.”

Without taking his eyes away from yours he sat up and spit in your hand. Jesus, that was hot. You brought your hand to the tip off his penis and began to rub him. Your other hand went between your legs to rub yourself. Harry’s eyes fluttered closed and his head fell back on the pillow. When he began to feel dry again you switched hands, bringing the hand covered in your arousal up to his dick.

Harry groaned loudly. “That is the hottest thing anyone’s ever done for me in bed.”

You smiled and hung your head. The feel of Harry’s dick in your hands was such a turn on and you could feel yourself getting closer to your release. You loved it when your partner moaned in bed, it was probably the sexiest thing a man could do in bed. Every sound that fell from Harry’s lips spurred you on.

“Ah—sh—it’s getting dry again.” Harry sat up on his elbows.

You nodded without a word and switched hands again, covering him in more of yourself.

“Y/N, are you still taking the pill?”

Both of your hands stopped moving. “Huh?”

“You’re still on the pill, right?”

“Yes. Yeah.” Your brain was too fuzzy with pleasure to figure out why he was asking.

“So, let’s like, actually do it.”

“Do you want to?” Your heart was still pounding in your chest. You could have come just like this, but you couldn’t turn down intertwining your bodies, feeling full.

“I think that’s pretty obviously a yes. You can feel how hard I am right now.”

You laughed and took your shirt off, just remembering it was still on when the fabric painfully rubbed against your nipples. Harry moaned at the sight of your bare breasts.

“Shit. You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you, Y/N?”

“At least you’ll remember seeing me naked now,” you laughed.

“I never forgot! I just said breasts don’t count.” He ran both hands down your sides. “You haven’t answered me yet.”

“Yes.”

“Regularly?”

You laughed remembering all the times he had to remind you to take your pills in the past. That was so long ago now; you had gotten much better at taking them regularly and on time. “Yes.”

“So, what’s stopping us then?” Harry sat up and wrapped his arms around your waist.

“Nothing.”

Harry smiled before pressing his lips to yours. He guided you down on to your back and climbed between your legs again. His kisses trailed from your lips, down your neck, then to your chest. You relished the feeling of his lips on you and running your fingers through his hair. Damn, was he good in bed.

“I wanna try something.” Harry was breathing heavily.

“Anything.”

Harry wasted no time bringing his lips to his to your nipple causing you to cry out. He propped himself up on one arm and brought his hand between your legs. His fingers slid into you and his thumb rubbed your clit.

“Ah! Harry, that feels really good.”

“Good.” He pressed another kiss to your chest.

All too soon you felt that familiar tension building then spilling over. You had one of the best orgasms you’ve had in who knows how long.

Harry pulled his fingers from between your legs and brought them to his lips. Once he had sucked his fingers clean, he brought himself to your entrance. “You’re still okay with this?”

“Yes,” you moaned.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and brought his body flush against your chest. He easily slid into you, filling you up. Harry pumped his hips, pulling in and out of you slowly while moaning. His breath on your neck was heavenly.

“Y/N, what’s your favorite position? What will make you come again?”

“I don’t know. A partner has never given me two in one go,” you answered.

“Jesus, Y/N. What kind of losers do you sleep with?”

You laughed but before you could even respond Harry had pulled out of you and was flipping you on to your stomach. He pulled your hips up just a bit so he could slide back in. He placed a hand on your ass and pushed you back down flat against the bed. His hand ran from your ass to your shoulder, massaging as he kissed the nape of your neck. With one last kiss he laid his body flat over yours.

“Cross your legs at the ankle and squeeze your legs together.”

You did as you were asked and thought you were going to come again. Your core was so tight he could barely move himself inside you. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, he slipped a hand between you and the bed to rub your clit. He continued to press soft kisses to your back as he slowly thrust in and out of you. You could feel how wet you were.

“Y/N, I’m close.”

“Harry, yes. Just use me.”

“No—ah, I need to see my girl’s face when I come. It’s kind of my thing.”

“Lie down,” you commanded.

Harry traded places with you then you grabbed his dick again and lined it up with your center. You sank down on him slowly, enjoying the sight of him coming unraveled.

He held on to your thighs until you placed both your hands over his and brought them to your breasts. “Keep touching me.”

Something about watching your chest rise and fall while you rocked your hips had Harry needing more. He grabbed you by the small of your back and pulled you close to him. He sat up and leveraged the headboard to thrust up into you, his hands back on your hips.

Eventually he felt the need to hold you even closer. He wrapped his arms around your torso and buried his face in your neck. When that wasn’t enough, he placed one hand on your ass helping you to grind into him. He brought his other hand up your spine and grasped the back of your neck.

“Y/N, quick—do I need to pull out?”

He sounded out of breath, and all wound up.

“No, Harry, just come.”

With that something in him snapped. He grabbed your head in both his hands, roughly dragging his thumbs over your lips. “Y/N, look at me.”

You grabbed his face too and held his stare as you felt his warm release spill inside you. He continued thrusting until he was spent, never letting go of your face. When he stilled, he rested his forehead against yours and closed his eyes.

He was the first to break the silence. “Well, that was quite something, huh?”

You laughed. “Jesus, Harry. You should just wife me right now because I don’t know how anything would ever feel that good ever again. You’ve ruined men for me so you should take some responsibility.”

Harry laughed that gorgeous full-chested laugh of his then tapped your thigh, indicating he wanted you to get off his lap. “Ah, careful, Y/N.” He was so sensitive over his penis sliding out of you. “I’ll be right back.”

You nodded and laid down on the bed. You told yourself that in a second you would get up and clean yourself, but for right now, you just needed a minute to catch your breath.

Harry got out of bed and slipped his pants back on. His first stop was to the hall closet for a hand towel. Next, he went to the kitchen and filled two glasses with ice and grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey from the freezer. He turned on the tap in the kitchen sink and waited for the water to warm up. While he waited, he grabbed a bar of dark chocolate, knowing you couldn’t handle straight alcohol without something sweet.

Harry grabbed a serving tray off the counter and loaded everything on it before checking the water temperature. It was warm enough to sting his hand – just the right temperature for you. He soaked the towel thoroughly then wringed it out, trying not to burn himself on the hot water. How you enjoyed water that hot was beyond him.

When he got back to the room you were still in bed.

“Here, take this.” Harry set the tray on the bed and handed you a glass of ice. He filled it with chilled whiskey.

“Thank you, Harry. That’s so thoughtful.” You took a sip and grimaced even though you enjoyed the flavor.

“But wait! That’s not even the best part yet!”

Harry pulled the warm damp cloth from the tray and grabbed you by the back of your leg, just under your knee. It was one of your sensitive spots and was almost enough to make you want round two. He began wiping your thighs and cleaning you up.

“Wow. Aftercare? I’m impressed, Har. You this nice to all your partners?”

“A few,” he smiled up at you when you brought your glass to his lips and tilted it to give him a drink. You watched his throat as he swallowed. “Usually, I wear a condom so there isn’t this big of a mess.”

“Just a few? Aren’t I lucky, then?”

“You got that right,” he winked. “Only the best from my best friend. Look!” Harry reached behind him then held up the bar of dark chocolate. “I even remembered that you can’t drink it straight without something sweet.”

You giggled. “Wow. VIP treatment tonight.”

Harry finished cleaning you up the chucked the towel into a hamper near the bathroom door. You sat up and poured him a glass which he gladly accepted then laid down. You broke off a piece of chocolate and held it out to him. He grabbed it with his mouth and thanked you.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Harry asked even though his mouth was still full of chocolate.

You sat up and faced him. “Depends. Do you wanna stick close and go into town or do you want to take a little drive to the coast?”

“Mmmm. That’s a tough one. Why don’t we play it by ear?”

You playfully nudged him. “You mean you don’t have tomorrow all planned out already? Another?”

“Yes, please.” Harry held his mouth open waiting for another piece of chocolate.

“If we stay in town, we can go to that cute little restaurant we saw on the way up.” You tapped his shoulder as if it would jog his memory.

Harry nodded his head but otherwise stayed quiet. He finished his drink then set it down on the tray at the end of the bed.

“I don’t know about you, but I think I need another shower. I worked up a good sweat and now my skin feels all tight and sticky.”

“Can I join?”

“That depends. Are you going to want the temperature scalding hot?”

“Maybe. But I know you love it when someone washes your back for you.”

“Alright, you can come with. But I want you to scrub my back really well. Few minutes at least.” Harry had a playful look in his eyes.

“Deal.”

“Well alright then. Lead the way,” Harry followed behind you, watching as you opened the glass door to the spacious shower and turned on the water.

You stuck your hand under the water and looked at Harry. “This good?”

Harry leaned into the shower stall, a hand on the small of your back. “I guess. Unless you’re willing to turn it down just a tiny bit?”

“Not a chance.” You stepped into the shower under the stream of water. He always knew you were beautiful, but tonight was something else.

“You’re making me want another round,” Harry smiled as he slipped off his pants and stepped in the shower, closing the door behind him.

“Funny, I was thinking that earlier when you were cleaning me up.” You twirled your finger in a motion that asked him to turn around. “Pass me the body wash please.”

Harry passed the bottle and waited until he felt you press a soapy loofah to his back. You placed your other hand on his back to steady yourself as you ran the loofah over his back and sides.

“You know, that was pretty good for me, too. Maybe we can do it again. I mean, there’s no harm, right?”

“Yeah. Until one of us gets into a new relationship,” you agreed.

Harry laughed, “Why would I need someone else?”

You hit him on the back with the loofah before scrubbing him. “What do you mean? I’m not sleeping with you while you’re sleeping with someone else.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, why would I need someone else when I have you? With you I have companionship, someone there when I need them. You give me advice and now I know that we can have some of the best sex I’ve ever had together? What more do I need? We already kind of plan our futures with the other in mind. So… why involve anyone else? I have it made now.”

Both of you laughed.

 “Here. You finish up.” You handed him the loofah and grabbed the shampoo. You began to wash his hair.

“What about love? You can live without someone to romantically love?” You ran your fingers through his hair, cleaning his curly brown locks.

“I don’t know, Y/N. You keep screwing me like that I think I could get to romantic love. I already love you; I just need a couple more orgasms like that to tip me over the edge.”

You held his arms for stability as you bent forward laughing. He held you back and joined in your laughter.

“You’re terrible. Wash up.” You pushed him under the water and watched as he closed his eyes and washed the shampoo from his hair.

“’Kay, your turn.” Harry lathered his palms with shampoo and worked it into your hair by massaging your scalp. You hummed with pleasure, loving it when someone rubbed your head.

“Remember Adriana?”

You didn’t open your eyes to answer him, “Of course. You were crazy about her.”

“I was. But we agreed we weren’t the best for each other.” Harry began to clean the rest of his body. “We actually argued once because she thought we were too close.”

“Sorry, Harry. She wasn’t too far off the mark, though. I mean, look at our history. And then this evening—” You trailed off not finishing your thought.

“Can’t argue that,” Harry chuckled.

Harry placed a hand on your waist to trade places with you so you could rise off.

“I think I’m good without a girlfriend. How about you? Think you’ll get back into the dating game?”

“I don’t know.” You turned to look at Harry. “Done?”

“Yeah. I’ll grab our towels.”

You turned off the water and Harry took a step outside of the shower stall and handed you a towel.

You continued your thought as you dried yourself. “I mean, I think I’m good for now. You’re right that we already have a lot of the components that make a relationship fulfilling. I wouldn’t mind exploring a more physical relationship with you because I already know I can be open and trust you.”

Harry grinned from ear to ear. “I’m always right.”

You playfully smacked his chest and moved past him out of the shower.

“Love you, Y/N.”

You smiled at him but didn’t say it back.

“Y/N! I said I love you.”

Again, you didn’t respond, only nodding. You knew Harry could not handle it when you didn’t say it back.

“Y/N! Say it back!”

Instead, you wrapped the towel around you tighter and scurried back to bed.

“Brat! Come here and say it back to me!”

Harry followed after you and grabbed you with both arms causing you to yelp. He pinned you to the bed and tickled you.

“Say it back, Y/N. Say you love me back and you can end this.”

“Harry, please!” You cried out between giggles.

“Just say it. Three words and I’ll let you go.”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying.”

“Wrong.” He wrapped your hair around his hand to expose your neck. He blew raspberries on the sensitive skin behind your ear.

“Okay, fine! I love you! Are you happy now? Shit!”

Harry playfully pushed your head into the bed and rolled off of you.

You acted mad but Harry knew better. “Was that so hard?”

“No, but I can’t let you have everything so easily. Someone has to keep you in check.”

“So like you. Difficult for no reason.” Harry winked but you still threw a pillow at him.

“You sleeping here?” You had already hung your towel up in the bathroom and crawled in bed again.

“Might as well. I’m already here, right?” He got in bed and pulled the blankets up to his waist. “Do you mind if I sleep naked?”

“I don’t think that after today you ever have to ask that question again.”

Harry chuckled. “Come here. Since we’re being touchy feely, I want to cuddle you in my sleep.”

You scooted closer and relaxed into his arms, your back against his warm chest. He swung a leg over your legs.

“Don’t get upset when my morning wood pokes you.”

“Harry! You’re terrible! Go to bed.”

“Y/N? Wake up. Your breakfast is gonna get cold.”

You opened your eyes to see that Harry had made omlettes with the leftovers from last night’s dinner.

“See, this is why I took the room with the view. I had tea in my room and still had time to make breakfast before you woke up. You missed a hell of a view.”

You smiled, and looked over at the clock and saw it wasn’t yet 9:00. “Dude, it’s still so early, I’m sure the view is just as nice now as whenever the hell you woke up.”

“You’re something else. Scoot over, would you?” He got in bed and handed you a plate then grabbed his from the bedside table.

When breakfast was done you put the dishes in the kitchen then brushed your teeth. You had yet to get dressed after last night’s shower.

“Hey, Y/N? I’m feeling very frustrated again.”

You laughed, “are you now?”

“Come here.” Harry patted the bed beside him.

When you came near enough, he placed a hand on the side of your face and pulled you in for a kiss. You laid on the bed next to him and he immediately brought a hand between your legs.

“Are you always so eager?” You smirked at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

“You have no idea. You better get used to it. Especially if you insist on walking around with nothing on.”

Any response you had dried in your throat. Your mind couldn’t focus on anything else other than the growing pleasure between your legs.

“Y/N. I want to try something with you.”

Harry looked at you nervously, but you only smiled. “Anything.”

“You’re going to regret having said that,” Harry said with a mischievous grin. He laid down on his stomach between your legs. “Still with me?”

“Yes.” You could barely breathe. The anticipation only made you more wet.

Harry wrapped his hands around your thighs and began to kiss your legs, making his way to your core. You let out a low, breathy moan. Even when he was teasing Harry was amazing. Without warning he licked your folds, causing you to cry out. He sucked on your clit before lapping up more of your arousal. He added his fingers and slowly pumped in and out of you, watching you squirm.

“Harry. Come here. I need to feel you.” You ran your hands through his hair.

Harry seemed to be ignoring you. He licked at your insides while he continued to pump his fingers. You caught how he was grinding his hips on the bed and felt a shiver run through your body.

“I’m so close,” you panted.

Harry moaned in response then brought his thumb up to rub your clit. His tongue was still lapping at your folds and licking your insides. Before long you felt yourself shaking as you climaxed.

When your legs had stopped trembling Harry climbed up your body. He kissed you deeply and pressed his body to yours, grinding against your hips. You were so slick he plunged into you without having to guide himself into you.

“You feel so good, Y/N. I’m never leaving this spot between your legs.”

As Harry pumped into you, you thrust to meet his hips. Deep and desperate moans filled the room along with the sounds of your bodies slapping together and the bed creaking.

“Fuck, I’m getting close.”

You wrapped your arms around him in response and dug your heels into his ass in an attempt to bury him deeper within you.

“Y/N, do I have to pull out?” Harry was panting, not slowing his pace at all.

“Inside. Always inside. Give me everything you got.”

With that, Harry came. He drained himself inside of you, his hips only slowing to a stop when he became too sensitive. Harry kissed you with a big smile on his face then laid down next to you. He rubbed your lower stomach—something you could get used to.

“You know, if we keep going raw like that we’re going to end up with an unplanned pregnancy. Especially with how forgetful you are with your meds.”

You smacked his chest playfully. “Hey! I am so much better now. It’s been ages since I’ve forgotten.”

Harry smiled and kissed you on your forehead.

“We should probably invest in condoms. I’m going to want to do this all the time. We could put them on an auto delivery.” You giggled and interlaced your fingers with Harry’s.

“Yeah. I’ll look into it as soon as we get back home.” Harry fell silent for a moment, lost in thought. “Or I could just get a vasectomy. Unless you want kids. Do you want kids?”

“Harry!” You burst out laughing. “We just started this…friends with benefits thing yesterday. Now you’re talking about vasectomies and children?”

“It’s a conversation we should have if we’re going to be sleeping together. Have you changed your mind since the last time we talked about kids?”

“You’re right,” you sighed. “Uh, no. I haven’t changed my mind.”

“Well, your whole ‘if it happens, it happens’ stance is not a solid plan.” He laughed before kissing your forehead. “Such a wishy-washy approach could make things difficult later if something unplanned does happen.”

“What would you do if we go back home, and a couple weeks from now I miss my period. What do you want? Could you raise a kid with your best friend?”

“Absolutely. We’d be great parents.”

“Be serious!” You laughed, causing Harry to laugh too. You cuddled up to him and rested your head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around you and gave you a loving squeeze.

“So, we actively take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen. Which may or may not include a vasectomy so I can keep enjoying you without a barrier between us.”

“Sounds like a solid plan.”

“But it still doesn’t address the unplanned. What’s our move then?”

“Um…then we have a child. We raise it with all the love we can.”

“I can handle that.”

Harry rested his head against yours and went quiet again. You were rubbing his arm when Harry blurts out, more to himself than to you, “what if we just get married now?”

“The fuck is going on in your head that that is where you ended up?”

“No, listen. I’ve been telling you for years your insurance is too expensive, whereas mine is quite reasonable. If we do become parents-to-be it would be so much cheaper and convenient to have you on my insurance plan.”

“So, I’ll join your insurance plan. Why do I have to marry you for that?”

“Because I don’t have the option to add best friends to my plan. Immediate family only like spouses.”

“Okay, well, if that happens Vegas is only a 6-hour drive from home. We’ll get married and I’ll get on your insurance plan. Deal?”

“Deal.” He snuggled you closer.

“You know, if this is your idea of pillow talk, I no longer wonder why your relationships haven’t worked out.”

Harry playfully shoved your face away onto your own pillow. “Brat.”

“Damn. Maybe we should get married. Think of what we’d save not paying for two mortgages.”

 “Now you’re talking. I’ll start planning the wedding.” Harry chuckled then winked at you.

“You should probably start planning for a future where I leave you and move across the country because you drive me insane.”

“So, what’s the plan for today?” You looked up at him expectantly.

“Shower first?”

“Fine. But this time you have to scrub my back!”

Part Two

[callsign-muffin]

Heal Together: Chapter 1

(Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw fic)

I've been lurking on here for a while, reading Top Gun fics and I recently got inspired to write one of my own. Hopefully someone reads it and likes it!

Note about the format: Between every header is a change in the point of view :)

Summery: When Rooster was med-evaced back to San Diego from the mission field, the last thing he expected was to wake up with a tube down his throat and the most beautiful woman he's ever seen at his bedside.

Masterlist

Word Count: 2.1k

“Hey Carly, I’m taking over for room 4 today. Are you ready to give report?” You ask the cute blonde night shift nurse, she looked about 12 years old. What in the hell was she doing in the ICU of a military hospital? Hell, you should be asking yourself the same question. You hated it here at this boys club where nurses were ignored as a female dominated profession, despite being the people who spend the most amount of time at the patient’s bedside in a 12 hour stretch. But you were only one week into this eight week travel assignment and the money was great, so you just had to grin and bear it and make as few enemies as possible.

“The census is low, is this gonna be your only patient?” She asked.

“Yeah.” You pulled out your report sheet and pen, “Let’s hope it stays that way.”

You could tell Carly was fresh off of orientation by how nervous she looked before beginning to speak.

“Hey,” You placed a comforting hand on her knee, “take your time, tell me what you know, and if I have any questions I’ll ask them when you’re done. You just finished a long shift, it’s okay to be a little out of it. We’ll get all the info we need together. No pressure, okay?”

“Okay,” Carly nodded and took a deep breath, “This is Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw, 35 year old male, full code, no known allergies…”

You quietly took down the pertinent information about Lt. Bradshaw as Carly spoke. He was a pilot, recovered after a crash, and was stitched back together pretty well on the aircraft carrier, he went septic and was transported back to the states to your hospital. Pretty standard stuff. He was currently on a ventilator for breathing support but all seemed to be going in a positive direction despite the shitty circumstances.

Carly finished her report with a sigh of relief, you had a feeling the staff nurses weren’t as respectful when receiving report from a new graduate. “Any questions?”

“Any family  at the bedside?” You asked.

“No, no family. Apparently a guy named Pete Mitchell calls daily for updates, they’re not related but he’s included on the patient’s medical information release forms, so we can talk to him. Chart says he’s single, no siblings, and both parents have passed away.” Carly yawned, she was beginning to fade after a long night. You didn’t want to hold her up anymore than necessary, she needed to get home and go to bed.

“Okay,” You clicked your pen, “Sounds good. Let’s go check lines and meds so you can get out of here.”

She paused for a second as you got up from your chair at the nurses station, “Y/N… thank you for being so nice… I’m only a week off of orientation and things are still so new…”

You smiled at the compliment, “We’ve all been there. Every nurse on this unit was new at one point and I think sometimes they forget that. Hell, I’m a traveler and this is only my second week and there’s so much that’s new to me too. You’re doing great.”

You spent the first part of your morning before rounds with the care team just cleaning up the patient, organizing the room, all that good stuff. Though it wasn’t necessarily considered “professional”, you played some music softly from your phone as you worked. You found that music or just talking to patients on vents helped with agitation. You couldn’t imagine anything more tortuous than listening to repetitive beeping and alarms all day long and nothing else. Though most managers didn’t like it, that didn’t stop you. What were they gonna do? Fire you? Hospitals hire travelers at such a high price point when they’re understaffed and desperate. They needed you more than you needed them.

█ ✪ █▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█ ✪ █

“When the sun goes down, we’ll be groovin’

When the sun goes down, we’ll feel alright

When the sun sinks down over the water

Everything is hotter when the sun goes down…”

Who the fuck listens to Kenny Chesney anymore? Rooster thought to himself.

He knew he was sick, the docs on the ship told him that before they knocked him out to shove the tube down his throat. They told him he’d be med-evaced back to San Diego because the hospital where he was overseas didn’t have the capabilities to take care of someone as sick as him. He didn’t know how long he had been there, all the days run together when you’re too weak to open your eyes. He was used to having things done to him, he was past the point of getting agitated about it, because he knew they’d just sedate him more.

“Alright, Bradshaw.” A confident voice said, “All of your lines are untangled, your room is clean, and your initial assessment is done… How about we have a little spa day? You’re smellin’ a little… ripe.”

RUDE! 

“HA! You can hear me! You raised your eyebrows!” She giggled, damn it was a cute giggle. Rooster honestly hadn’t realized he was moving his face. But he believed her because that’s what his face usually does when he’s surprised. “You’ve been caught. No more playing dumb.”

Water started running, splashing, and the suction was turned on… that sound usually meant his mouth was gonna get cleaned and he was gonna feel something funny down his throat. He hated it.

“Carly told me you were getting agitated during mouth care last night. Since you can hear me, I’m going to tell you everything I’m doing, so don’t get sassy with me.” She said, “Deal?”

Anything for the first person not to treat me like a damn vegetable. This was the first time someone actually talked to him and told him what the fuck was happening since he got here. It was a welcome change.

The kind yet sassy voice interrupted his thoughts, “Okay, mouth care. I’ll be quick, I promise.”

She didn’t lie to him, she was quick and the stupid suction caused him minimal discomfort. Maybe it was because he could brace himself, or maybe it was because she was just really good at her job.

“I’m about to give you a full body bath, so how about we get to know each other a little bit.” She said as she adjusted his sheets and pillows to reposition him, placing a towel under his head, and rinsing his hair with warm water.

Rooster’s whole body relaxed.

“My name is Y/N Y/L/N and I’m obviously your nurse today and will probably be for the next few days…” Nurse Y/N went on about where she’s from, her hobbies, how she’s not making many friends in this new hospital she’s been contracted out to.

Welcome to the military, it’s a boy’s club. He wished he could say that to her. He imagined medicine was similar to aviation, full of egos.

Before Rooster knew it, his whole body had been washed from head to toe. He hadn’t felt this clean in what felt like years.

“So Lieutenant… not to be crude but… I gotta clean your bits. But at least we’ve really gotten to know each other.” Nurse Y/N said, “Your girlfriend will thank me later.”

Ha! Rooster laughed to himself, What girlfriend?! My dick hasn’t been played with in months!

Like with the mouth care, her cleaning was quick and respectful. And damn, being clean felt so good. She went on to change his gown, sheets, and blankets. Rooster truly felt like a new man.

“Lieutenant Bradshaw, you’ve never looked better.” She said with a satisfied sigh.

That’s a damn lie, but I’ll take the compliments wherever I can get them at this point.

“Hey Y/N,” Another female voice said, “They’re starting with you for rounds. Are you ready to present your patient or should I stall?”

“Nah, I’m ready. Tell them to come in whenever.” Nurse Y/N said, then her voice got low and she whispered to Bradley, “I’m gonna try to get them to lighten your sedation and move towards trials of turning the ventilator off. It’s not gonna be comfortable but the sooner we start working towards getting that tube out of your throat, the sooner you can get the hell out of here.”

Rooster wanted to make sure she knew he heard her and that he was on board, it took every ounce of strength in his body, but he nodded.

█ ✪ █▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█ ✪ █

“No way.” The resident physician said simply after you gave your recommendation with your presentation of Lt. Bradshaw

You were dumbfounded. What the hell did he mean no?!, “This patient was more than ready to move towards extubation.” 

“And what makes you the expert?” the resident asked.

Oh lord, this fresh out of med school asshole was turning rounds into a dick measuring contest.

“The fact that I’ve been at his bedside for the past three and a half hours, I assessed him, bathed him, turned him, and he is showing signs of progress. The next step is spontaneous breathing trials and extubation. The longer he stays on the vent, the more likely he is to get pneumonia, as we all should know, Doctor.” You explained coolly but made sure to add his (probably newly earned) title. 

“I agree with…” The attending looked at you and scanned your badge, “... Y/N… What do you think from a Respiratory Therapy standpoint, Brent?” He looked over at Brent, the RT.

Brent smirked and narrowed his eyes at the resident, “I also think moving towards extubation is a good thing. If he has two successful trials, he could be off the vent by the end of the day.”

The attending physician nodded, “Then it’s a plan. And I think this is a really good lesson for the residents and medical students with us on rounds, the nurses know more about the patient than we do. We should always consider their recommendations because they have the most valuable view on the patient, simply because they spend time with them.”

You tried to dim the glow that was on your face.

 “Thanks, Dr…” You scanned the attending’s badge the same way he did yours.

“Carter, Brendan Carter.” He extended his hand and you shook it, “Glad to have you here.”

That was the most welcome anyone had made you feel in the last week here. Who would’ve thought a wrinkly old attending doctor with dancing eyes would be the person to stand up for you and make you feel secure in your clinical decision making.

█ ✪ █▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█ ✪ █

Rooster wasn’t sure how much time had gone by since Nurse Y/N told him she was turning down his sedatives but it felt like he could open his eyes almost instantly. It was so… bright. Once his eyes adjusted, he scanned his surroundings, the lights weren’t even on but the sun shining through the large window felt blinding. He looked to his left and saw the machine that the tube in his throat was attached to, the machine that had kept him alive for God knows how long. He looked to his right and saw multiple IV poles that attached him to lines and lines of medicine and fluid. Further to his right, he saw a woman standing at a computer, typing away furiously, her face was serious yet beautiful, was that Nurse Y/N?

“Good morning, Lt. Bradshaw.” She said quietly, “You’re still attached to your breathing tube, so you can’t talk. Now that you’re awake we’re one step closer to getting you off that thing. Sound good?”

Rooster nodded slowly, wishing he could thank her for everything. For talking to him, bathing him, treating him like a human-being.

“Do you feel strong enough to write?” She asked, “Can I get you a whiteboard?”

He nodded again.

“I’ll be right back.” She swiftly left the room. 

Rooster couldn’t help but love watching her walk away. Along with a beautiful face, he could tell she had a great body hiding underneath those scrubs. It had been so long since he’d seen a pretty girl.

She returned quickly with a whiteboard and a marker, handing it to him, “What’s on your mind Lieutenant?”

Call me Bradley. He scribbled, 

“Nice to meet you Bradley.” She smiled down at him, “How are ya feelin’?”

Better now that I’m clean and awake. He wrote.

“There’s something healing about a bath and being taken out of your drug induced sleep, huh?” She giggled.

Rooster nodded and started writing again, Thank you for everything.

“No biggie. I’m glad to see you doing so well. Is it okay if I do a full assessment on you, just since you’re awake now?” She asked.

He nodded, this girl could do anything she wanted to him. She was basically his angel.

[curtsycream]

My Heart Lingers in Italy

In which James Potter visits Italy for a school trip just to meet two girls that change him forever.

This is pretty short but it is only my first installment of this series if you want to call it that. It will be part of my summer project for my writing. So updates may be a bit slow but quality over quantity right? Anyway I hope you enjoy, it wasn’t beta read this time I wanted to get it out before I rewrite it completely or just scrap the idea. Also when they trade IDs it was supposed to be for Line and such like that but couldn’t find a face social media maker for that one, so yeah also English is not my first language so if my grammar or spelling is off I apologize in advance.

“Lily, where are we going?”

The two girls held hands as they weaved through a crowd of tourists. The streets of Verona normally weren’t so packed but it was tourist season. Smiling Lily tugs Y/N forward as the two girls walk, “Remember you said you’d go to Piazza San Zeno with me. I explicitly remember telling you last week when you were busy talking with Sienna.”

Y/N smiled broadly, “don’t tell me you were jealous again. You know you never have anything to worry about, she just wanted to know if I would be applying to universities outside of Italy. I told her I’m going wherever you go,” she whispered.

Ducking her head down Lily tried to use her hair to hide her reddened cheeks. “You’re so annoying sometimes, come on!”

The two girls, one smirking and the other blushing made their way to the open flea market. It was packed with locals and foreigners alike. Y/N waved to any and everyone she knew running different stalls. When Lily stopped walking she bumped into the shorter girl’s back.

“What’s the hold-up, Donnina?” Y/N glanced up to notice a group of teenagers. All about the same age as the two of them. But what stuck out the most was a group of boys playing around near a booth. Their playful nature was animated and rather funny.

Grinning she wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulder, “oh I see it’s those tourists. They’re rather cute I’ll admit,” she commented.

“What do you think about that one?” Lily asked pointing at a bespectacled boy with dark hair.

Squinting Y/N finds herself analyzing the boy from his charming behaviors to his handsome looks. “Attractive,” it was simple but for someone like Y/N, it meant a lot.

Lily and Y/N knew each other inside and out better than most people did. So a simple compliment from Y/N meant she wanted to get to know him too.

“Should we talk to him?”

“What about that thing we rushed here for?”

“Aldo will be here next Sunday with the book I want to look at, should we talk to him?”

The urgency in her voice was clear, it hinted at her fear of passing up on what could be a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Nodding her head Y/N nods her head in his direction, “Let’s go.”

Pulling Lily along she smiled softly when standing in front of the boy. Up close he was much more handsome than she gave him credit for.

James was listening to Remus explain the difference between the two books in his hands to Sirius. He knew Sirius only did this to rile him up. Looking away from his friends he noticed two girls walking towards him. One was short and flushed and the other tall and grinning.

He would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel something. They were opposites of each other yet they looked so good together. Like that of sunshine and rain where together they equal out to rainbows. A balance is what they represent one that he wanted to be a part of. It was a strange feeling but it felt meant to be.

“Ciao,” he said without thinking.

The tall girl smiled with a laugh, “Ciao.” While the shorter one looked away before looking back at him with a smile, “Ciao.”

“I, I didn’t really pass Italian just enough to end up on this trip,” he explained. He felt as if he had to as if he owned them something.

“No it’s fine, we know English. Your accent British?” The tall one asked with just as much interest as a puppy. Her accent is thick as she speaks fluently and confidently.

“Yes, I guess the accent was very obvious,” he joked.

“That among other things,” the words from the shorter girl made him grin. Her voice was lithe sneaking up on his ears with agility. While the taller girl’s voice felt like velvet wrapping around his eyes blinding him with mystery. Both were opposite but equal in the effects they were having on his senses.

“Oh, what are these other things?” He asked leaning forward enough to smell figs and jasmine on her. A floral and fruity scent that made him lean back some.

“If I told you so easily it wouldn’t be as fun,” she told him.

“She’s always like this if you’re wondering, you’ll have to pry her secrets from her cold little hands to know.” The glint of amusement in the taller girl’s eyes was evident. Just like the smell of mint and lemon when she stepped closer to whisper that to him. The crisp and citrus scent was exhilarating like a cool breeze sweeping over him.

“I’ll keep that in mind for the next time we meet,” he tells her.

The confidence in his tone was enough to cause Y/N to look away. Lily found herself squinting at him, “who said we would meet again?”

“I can’t say for sure but I hope so,” he says. “You’re both really interesting.”

“We’ve said less than five sentences each,” she tells him. All he did was shrug a look of certainty on his face. His expression revealed it all as if he knew they would.

“Then let’s trade IDs?” He asked them.

“How do you even know we have the app?”

“I don’t, but I’d like to hope you do, red.”

Laying in her bed whilst looking up at her ceiling Lily sighs. Sitting up she glanced over at whom she deemed her other half. The other girl was sculpting something with clay her headphones probably blaring some loud music.

Each time Lily tried to sleep her mind would wander to the bespectacled boy they met. His charisma was refreshing in a way she had not expected. Though she denied it on the trip back home she did enjoy his company.

His words so easily teased and left her cheeks red. She couldn’t understand how he so easily did so. Before she could think longer about the British boy she felt arms snake around her waist. A head resting on her chest, “What are you thinking so hard about, Donnina?”

Weaving her fingers through the taller girl’s hair the ginger sighs. A look of contemplation on her freckled face. “That guy…the British boy. He’s not easy to forget,” she uttered.

Mulling over Lily’s words she agreed, “I get that..he’s very charismatic in a way. But under all that, there is this heart tug where you can’t help but enjoy his company.”

“Exactly!” Lily exclaimed as she brushed hair out of the other girl’s face. Her finger trailed down her forehead and along the bridge of her nose. “I wonder if that’s normal…to feel that way about someone you just met.”

Humming softly Y/N’s fingers ghost over Lily’s sides before resting on her hips. “Maybe it’s a British thing? To be so charming and have people eager to see them again.”

“I thought that was the French?”

“It’s all relative, or how do people say Greek to me.”

Lily snorted shaking her head, “I think this is why you shouldn’t skip out on your literature classes.”

“Why would I stop when I have such a beautiful tutor to teach me when I don’t show up for classes?”

“You’re such a flirt.”

“You wouldn’t have me any other way, donnina.”

Verona was beautiful at night, James remembered Remus telling him it was the city of Romeo and Juliet. A lovely Italian city where lovers can go and enjoy the sights around them.

Lover or not he had to admit that the city was more than he expected. The town with its medieval architecture and the meandering Adige river. It was hard for him to stop looking out of his window as the moon reflected perfectly upon it.

He could hear Sirius and Remus’ hushed tones within the room. The two had spent the day with James although James made it clear he was okay alone. He didn’t want to ruin the time his friends could have in such a romantic place together.

But he was grateful, sighing he glanced down his eyes finally leaving the river. People were still walking about outside conversing. he expected the nightlife to not be as active. From the morning and afternoon being busy with bustling marketplaces, piazzas, shops, and gardens. But from the way people were chattering and laughing it seemed there was more to the city.

For some reason he found himself watching a duo of two women. One tall and the other short both of them laughing and clinging to each other in their drunken state. He wondered if they did similar activities, or rather he wondered what they were doing now.

A small ding left his phone, his hand dived into his trousers pocket to retrieve it. A message from Y/N appeared on his phone, eagerly he opened it.

Typos are on purpose because they are messaging in English. To better clarify when it’s just Lily and Y/N speaking together it will be in Italian. I’ll better indicate that in the next installment, but Y/N is terrible at English but she tries. I’m such a sucker for this trio already.

[benedictscanvas]

be still, my foolish heart [2] - jamie tartt x reader

pairing: jamie tartt x fem!reader

word count: 2.7k

series warnings: lots of language throughout, some allusions to smut but nothing explicit, a LOT of fucking fluff mostly ngl

a/n: the response on the first chapter of this was so overwhelming in the best way. i'm literally beside myself that people enjoyed it! my current plan is to update this every other day and try and get some little blurbs and one shots out in between. have a fabulous saturday night my loves <3

series summary: when jamie gets called up to the england team for the first time, he's terrified. enter you, all smiles and swearing, and suddenly his only fear is falling head over boots for you.

previous chapter | series masterlist | next chapter

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chapter two - i swear i thought i'd dreamed her

“Is that all you’ve got, Tartt?”

“Oh you’re so fuckin’ on, Rife.”

It’s day four of training camp. Jamie is over the moon to find that the England lads are largely similar to his Richmond lot and while he’s not half in love with them like he is back home, they’re a good bunch of lads. They get on. They can rib each other endlessly and then enjoy a good meal. He feels far more at home than he could have imagined.

He hadn’t expected Ted to get quite so jealous when he was telling him all this on FaceTime the night before.

“It’s nothin’ like being at home, though, Ted. ‘Course fuckin’ not. Haven’t got a grandad screaming at me all the time, ‘ave I?”

That was enough to placate Ted, allowed him to get on with telling Jamie how everyone was getting on at Richmond. Apparently, Ted had originally called him to get some advice on hair care products, but Jamie didn’t buy that for a second. He knew Ted could tell how nervous he was before he left. He was so grateful to have a gaffer - and a friend - willing to make up a shit excuse to check up on him.

He was holding his own in the training sessions too. He knew he wasn’t first choice up front, and however much it might have irked him previously, now he was able to enjoy the prestige that came with being here. The feeling he got when he shrugged on his England kit every morning just like he’d dreamt about when he was only a sexy little baby.

He loved penalty practice with Rife, tackling Marko in a 5v5 and knowing he’d be tackled back any second. He knew they were training for what would turn out to be some of the most important matches of his career, but it didn’t feel like it. It felt like making a few new friends and dragging them down to the nearby pitch everyday to have a kick about. It felt nice.

Still hadn’t managed to talk to the City lads, though.

It was beginning to affect his play, too. When one of them would shout out an instruction to him, he’d do it without hesitation, wanting to make nice. But he knew that his own instincts got him his place on this team and blindly listening to others wasn’t going to get him any minutes.

Which was why he was stood behind a plant, outside the hotel bar, trying to figure out his move to just go over and talk to the fuckers.

They were nice lads. He knew that. They used to be friends, yeah, but he was a prick back then, so maybe they only liked prick Jamie and weren’t that nice at all. Or they hated prick Jamie and wanted nothing to do with him ever again. Or they thought he was a total joke who didn’t deserve to be there. Or-

“What did the plant do to you?” came a voice from behind him, which made him realise he was gripping the stem with a vengeance, “You need me to kick it over? I’ll do it, but you’ll need to be lookout.”

That playful teasing, that voice, was familiar. When he turned and found you, kind head of PR you that he hadn’t seen properly since your first meeting, he couldn’t decide if he was a lucky bastard or had the worst misfortune in the whole world. He groaned either way as he let go of the poor plant.

“I’ll water it later to say sorry, I guess,” he said, patting a leaf in a way that felt pretty pathetic, “You’re stayin’ ‘ere too? I haven’t seen ya.”

That wasn’t totally true. He’d seen you about once a day since that first day, but only around the camp itself rather than the hotel. The two of you had shared curt nods each time, a reminder of your first meeting, but each time these nods had been followed by easy smiles to each other.

Each time you’d been sharply dressed. A pencil skirt here, a trouser suit there. It reminded him a little of Rebecca, except for the little touches that he’d noticed you let slip through the professional facade. A beaded anklet, a pair of fluffy earrings. You were a ray of sunshine around the place, that much he had picked up on. The regulars at the camp greeted you as a similar breath of fresh air.

“Perk of being head of a department,” you smile, “How’s training treating you? Issues with the grass that you’re taking out on all plants in sight?”

There was a very loud sigh waiting in his throat. He could make up a lie about waiting for someone, or checking out the plants because he wanted to get himself one back home, but you’d see through any bullshit he offered up. And he didn’t really want to bullshit you anyway.

“More embarrassin’ than that, I think,” he admits, watching as your face falls from that teasing smile to something with more worry in it. It’s very hard to keep eye contact with you when you’re looking at him all concerned like that, “I’m gonna give y’ the option to walk away now, if ya want, so y’ don’t have to be part of it, like.”

He watches you make a face as if there’s an obvious answer to what he’s just said. Without thinking, he takes a quick glance back at the City players huddled around the bar to check they haven’t clocked him. Of course, you notice.

“I hope you know how mysterious and intriguing you just made this situation,” you say as you come to stand beside him, more behind the plant than you were, “Something to do with the lads in there?”

That big, loud sigh he’s been holding in manages to break free.

“Yeah, it is. Yeah,” he doesn’t even know how to say it without sounding like a sad sack of shit. You smell really good and it’s the first time he’s seen you in anything other than work clothes and you look incredible in cargos. His thought process is scrambled, “They’re all City, yeah? Sooo…we were teammates an’ then we weren’t. Now I’m…fuck, I don’t even fuckin’ know what I’m doin’.”

Part of him hates swearing like that in front of you until he remembers your penchant for swearing. He hadn’t looked at you when he was talking, but when he risks a look back at your face, there’s no more of that worry that had been there briefly. There’s understanding instead, and he likes it a lot more. 

“You want to talk but don’t know how? Think they hate your guts?”

“Well, it’d be hard to hate these guts,” he says, words cocky but he doesn’t get the tone right and he’s quick to self-deprecate instead, “But yeah, that sums it up. Pretty fuckin’ pathetic, huh?”

“No. Not fucking pathetic at all, Just Jamie. Don’t call yourself that.”

You’re looking at him expectantly so he nods, a little confused by your ferocity.

“Good. Not pathetic,” you say again, for him or for you, he isn’t sure, “So, let’s get us a game plan. How about we go in there, order a drink maybe, definitely some chips, and I’ll wave them over after ten minutes. I’ll make up some PR bullshit, get the conversation going.”

He hesitates. Suddenly, he realises his previous plan was to stare at them all night through the leaves of this plant before running back to his room when they looked like they were about to get up.

“I dunno…maybe I should leave it? Like, I’m making a big deal out of nothin’, really.”

“I think they’d appreciate you making an effort,” you insist, “I can confirm that they don’t hate your guts, if it helps. They’re decent lads. Warne is a dickhead, but he’s harmless. I’m sure you know all this, really.”

“You might be underestimatin’ what a dickhead I was, Just Y/N,” he laments, although the use of what he could now call a nickname between the two of you makes him feel better, “I was fuckin’ awful.”

“No, I know,” she says instead, and he wasn’t expecting that. His head snaps to gape at her so quick she actually laughs at him, “I watched Lust Conquers All. It’s trash but it makes you feel better about yourself, you know? And yeah, you did seem like a dickhead, but you don’t seem like one now. Anyone with half a brain would notice, so I’m sure even Warne will realise you’re not coming at them from the same place you were at.”

It’s a lot to process. Firstly, that yet another person has watched that godforsaken fucking show and it’s you and he feels like a total idiot in front of you now. But then he registers the rest of it, that in such a short time you’ve just proclaimed that he’d obviously not like that anymore. That he’s changed. He knows he has, but he doesn’t always expect other people to notice straightaway.

“How the fuck did you watch that show and still manage to be so nice to me when we met?” he asks, because he can’t help himself. He wants to know the answer. Wants to know if you’re just like that with everyone, because that would probably be easier.

“Hey,” you lower your voice, “Richmond fan, remember? I’ve been to the games. Even a couple of the open training sessions. Everyone at Richmond knows you’re a different person now, right?”

He gulps. Nods.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. So…I do too,” you’re practically whispering now. Talking to you is like having a piece of Richmond with him, maybe even more so than the playlist. You’re Richmond and you know the new Jamie. It means more than he should tell you to feel like he has someone on his side, “Also I’m pretty good friends with this guy at the club. Do you know Trent Crimm?”

“You know Trent?” he exclaims, louder than he should. You hush him, but you’re smiling as you do it. He repeats his question a lot quieter, “Sorry. You know Trent Crimm?”

“Yeah, he used to do some reporting on England, for a while. We ended up chatting quite a lot. There’s not many male football journalists out there worth making friends with, but Trent’s one of the good ones. He texted me to look after you, actually, so you must be pretty great.”

Now Jamie was really torn. On the one hand, Trent texting you to take care of him was really fucking nice for a man he hadn’t even spoken to all that much. On the other hand, there was now a sinking feeling in his chest that all this kindness was a favour to Trent and had nothing to do with him at all.

“Oh. That’s- uh, that’s nice to hear.”

“Oh fuck, that’s not why I want to help you!” you said quickly, like you’d read his mind, “I just saw you with the plant, wanted to check you were okay. I’m not just, like, fulfilling a promise to him or anything.”

That sinking feeling lifted. Especially because he liked that you wanted to make sure he knew that. He could feel little pieces of his confidence floating back into his body. They were on thin ice, however, when you tugged on his arm to follow you as you walked straight into the bar, heading directly for the City players as you did so. He had no choice but to follow you.

His first thought was that you really did look criminally good in cargos, and his second thought was that this wasn’t in the fucking plan.

“Boys! My City Folk,” you greet them, definitely going for awkward on purpose. The three players smiled and waved as you came to stop beside them at the bar, Jamie following behind attempting to look as cool as possible, “I do hope you’re not breaking any rules? I am a known grass, and I will tell Gareth.”

They laugh and Jamie joins in because then maybe he’ll be part of things. Also, you’re funny, and he can tell you know it.

“Don’t worry, Y/N, just water for us tonight. We thought if we came down here, it might at least feel like we were drinking.”

“And I thought there might be some girls to chat with,” Warne added, as expected by pretty much everyone who knew him, “None around until you showed up, Y/N.”

“You’re a fucking idiot, Warne,” you reprimand, though there’s enough teasing in it that he just grins, “Didn’t the others remind you this hotel is entirely booked out for England players and staff?”

“Yeah. But you never know who you haven’t met yet.”

Jamie snorts at that and it draws more attention to him than he’d like. But it’s an opening, and your eyes are wide telling him to go for it! So he does.

“Strangely profound for you, Warne,” he supplies, grateful when you chuckle and the other two City boys join in, “Hey, how about the next round of water is on me?”

That really draws a laugh out of them, even Warne.

“You were always a generous son of a bitch, Tartt,” Rocky smiles, clapping him on the back. Again he sees an opening and with you still looking at him all encouragingly, he wants to take it.

“Nah, I wasn’t. I was a prick when we last talked. But I’ve been told I’m slightly better now, sometimes,” he glances at you when he says it, but you look so fond he has to look away, “Anyways, what I’m tryin’ to say: I’m sorry for before. Hope we can start fresh, like.”

“Mate,” Rocky shakes his head, brushing him off, “We’re all good. Long as you don’t keep drifting offside when I’m trying to thread one to you, I think we’ll manage.”

“Yeah, and don’t beat me in the fitness trials, alright? That’s my time to shine,” Warne adds, and even he’s got a friendly look in his eye, an attempt to respond to Jamie’s obvious and unexpected vulnerability. The weight that Jamie feels lift off his chest is massive. He can breathe properly again.

“No promises, mate. I’m fuckin’ fast now. Lightning, me.”

And with that, it’s easy to fall back into the banter he was used to. When Warne has launched into a story about not being able to find a toilet in Ibiza, he turns to you to say a silent thank you, but you’ve vanished from his side. He tries not to let his disappointment show on his face.

Searching around for a second, as subtly as he can, he spots a flash of your cargos behind the plant he’d been so well acquainted with. You pop your head out when you see that he’s looking and shoot him a double thumbs up and it’s all he can do not to excuse himself from the conversation and run over to you.

But you’re already giving a little wave and walking the other way. He watches you until you’re gone. Lets his eyes linger even a little longer than that.

When he turns back to tune into Warne again, hoping none of them noticed his wandering eye, he’s so incredibly grateful that you helped him face his fear. That he’s got his wish, and can get back to the game he loves without anymore unfinished business hanging over him.

Alongside that gratefulness, is the tugging at his heart that thinks his position behind that plant wasn’t so bad, once he gained some company. 

But he wouldn’t have flirted with you. He isn’t going to. Bad idea. Just talking, in a totally friendly way, would have been a pretty fucking nice evening, he thinks.

---

next chapter

if you've got this far, i fucking love you!! <3 and if you're at all into real life football like i am (enough to be pursuing a job in the field ffs) then see if you can work out who any of the England players might be based on hahaha

[witchblood-if]

“A Macigian never reveals their secrets. A Witch even less so.”

Well, you had a good run. For the last 70 or so years that you've had your little shop in Esmar's capital, nothing overly exciting happened. Apart from the occasional political changes and economical shifts, you could mostly carry on business as usual. But when the Fae calling herself your "best and only friend" invites you to pull a heist on your rival's home you didn't realize what effect that stunt would have on your immortal life. But damn, you really wanted that statue back.

Play Demo

Witch Blood is an upcoming urban fantasy interactive fiction story where you take on the role of one of the last proper witches of Esmar, hoping to resolve a very time-sensitive mystery that might cost you your own life if you don’t get on with the investigation soon.

Does it have to do with random people’s head exploding?

Is this the reason you seem to have more prophetic dreams than usual?

Why are there so many strangers storming into your shop demanding answers you couldn’t possibly know?

And why does your familiar keep eating your receipts? You need those for your taxes!

Create your very own witch. Appearance, personality, gender and sexuality...  All that Jazz

Choose a furry (or non-furry) companion for your immortal life

Become a master of 5 witchy skills that may or may not help you along the road

Keep your business afloat (you got bills to pay, after all)

Solve a mystery, save a bunch of people, and meet the Gods (???)

Find love, friendship, or rivalry (or maybe all three of them at the same time) with 5 different people who will. Not. Leave. You. Alone.

And for the love of the Gods: please stop spitting coins

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So far it will probably be a 16+ kind of rating for:

Mentions of violence, blood and gore

Strong language, cursing

Suggestive language

but things might change. I’ll keep you updated in any case.

The Best Friend: Faith (f)

Flirty and flighty, Faith is certainly living her best life. And while she’s not always the most reliable of friends, she always shows up for your weekly tea and gossip session (and more often than not with baked goods as well). If you’re looking for a fun night out: Faith is your gal. Don’t ask how she pays for all of it without having a job though.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Knight in Shining Armor: Isaac (m)

A stranger visiting your shop and ... flirting with you? Thankfully you’ve lived long enough to see through his ploy and stay unaffacted to his charms. Mostly. With a quick smile, a stance almost too relaxed and some really suspicious questions you can’t quite get a read on him. And you have the feeling he is also not really a tourist interested in your special sale items.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Loyal Advisor: Eli (f/m/nb)

Another stranger. This one seems much more honest than the last one but somehow you haven’t decided yet if you appreciate that or not. They say there is a problem their employer has sent them to hopefully solve and after some extensive research you seemed to be the least untrustworthy person of your craft to potentially help. You can’t quite tell from their stoic face if that sentence was supposed to be a compliment, a joke or very subtle sarcasm. But the pay they offer is nothing to turn your nose up at and you’ve worked for way shadier people.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Crazy Mushroom: Mezilkree (f/m/nb)

Mezilkree has been a frequent visitor of yours for quite some years. Mostly they just hang out at your shop and try to scare potential customers. When you try to make them leave they declare they are a customer, throw a bottle cap on your counter and shove a handful of candy from the jar you keep for kids in their mouth. Sometimes they even do buy something if they’re on an errand for their family, but as their community grows more and more resentful of non-mushrooms this occasion becomes rarer and rarer. In the many years of botherment, you have found Mezilkree to be a mischievous but sweet troublemaker. Some of the time, at least.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Other Witch: Levan (nb)

An Enemy. A Fiend. Your Immortal Rival. Most of the time you and Levan stay clear of each other, as is agreed upon in your Contract of Geniality. But now they have decided to steal a very valuable artifact you have spent months on locating. At least you’re pretty sure it was them, who else would be skilled enough to enter your home. Even though you don’t particularly get along, Levan is a witch you have known for the longest of time. But because of their spiteful nature and (admittedly somewhat deserved) arrogance you have long decided to avoid them, lest you burn down the whole town in a fit of anger. They really know how to push your buttons.

ROs Physical Appearance 

Witch Types

Demo

#ro ask ----> Scenarios and asks including all ROs

#ros ----> unspecific general info about ROs

#ch: [name] ----> info about that RO, often paired with #ros

#ch: carter ----> facts and info and rambling about the author

#mc ----> anything to do with your character, customization and so on

#lore and #lore ask ----> anything that’s about worldbuilding

#story and story ask ----> anything to do with plot

#lovely ocs ----> readers showing off their ocs

#lovely readers ----> lovely words from lovely people

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Hello my lovelies! This is a first attempt at Interactive Fiction, and on an even more important to note: a first real attempt at writing. I hope it doesn’t suck too much! Also please forgive orthographic and grammatical errors, English isn’t my first language :) (if you see something, say something tho)

Currently the prologue is in the works and will face some editing and expanding.

Until then,

Love, Carter

[cyyfics]

Heyy! Can you please if you what to Yandere farmworld Finn story please if you do Yanderes request and can you make it some what long? Like how would the kid react to this?

——————

Stay Here

Pairing: Farmworld! Finn X gn! Reader

Warning(s): general YANDERE CONTENT, fighting/arguing, gaslighting, lying, manipulation

Synopsis: You stumble upon a hidden room in your friends house, only to find a shrine of you sitting there. Events occur.

Note: I’m gonna update my req rules to specify something- I need ppl to tell me if they want the reader to be into the yandere shit or not :,) bc if it’s not specified then I’ll just do whatever I want to tbh….

Spoiler note (spoiler for the story):

I decided to make Finn’s kids sort’ve yandere too, since they’re his kids I feel like they would’ve learned some if not all of his tendencies.

Extra note??: sorry abt the ending idk… also this is just sfw idk if u wanted nsfw or anytbing jdk.. I hope this story is good ^^

|2nd Point Of View

—————

Today was the same as any other day, you would pop in by the house to see Finn and his children as per usual- but this time things were different. Felt different, I mean.

The house was empty and eerily creepy, despite the sunlight shining through the windows it still felt rather dark and scary. However, you still trudged on forward and marched inside the house. As you walked through the doorway, the door shut behind you. The sound of the door closing behind you startled you actually, but you didn’t give it much attention.

‘I’m just extra jumpy today, that’s all..’

You told yourself as you crept through the house slowly, looking around for any sign of Finn or the kids inside. It felt wrong to be inside their house if they were gone, but you just had to check if anyone was there. You hoped someone was, because leaving your door unlocked and unattended is really dangerous.

“Finn? You there?”

You started to call out, walking through to the kitchen “Who’s there?” You turned around and smiled as you finally saw a familiar face, it was Jay standing in the doorway. He was leant against the frame for a moment before noticing it was you, immediately running up to hug you. You ruffled his hair as his arms wrapped around your torso, his adorable young face looking up at you.

“Hi there Jay, where’s everyone else gone? You alone today or something?” You asked him as you gently pulled away from the hug, Jay’s smile faltering for a moment as you do. “Alone? No, of course not! Me and my siblings have just been playing hide and seek! Bonnie suggested it.” Jay explained, giggling to himself as he spotted a tuft of blonde hair coming from under the table.

Your eyes followed his and you noticed Bonnie hiding under there, trying to hug herself to make herself look smaller. Hoping she wouldn’t be noticed and lose the game. “Bonnie is that-“ Jay cut you off, pressing a finger to your lips to shut you up. “Shh.” He whispered. “My, oh my..” he moved away from you and then began to walk around the table, marching around it with his arms behind his back.

“Where is my dear sister? It’s been ages- but alas, I cannot find her!” He dramatically draped an arm over his face, causing Bonnie to have a giggle fit from under the table. “Got you!” Jay bent down and picked her up, dragging her gently from underneath the table. “No fair!” She shook her head at him “How is it not fair?” He furrowed his eyebrows, trying not to laugh at her.

“.. because.”

You couldn’t help smiling at the two bickering, your lips curled upwards and stretching from ear to ear. “Well, Bonnie, you were the last one to be found. So you’re it.” Jay poked her cheek, Bonnie immediately grumbled “fineeeee!” She hopped down from his arms and walked up to a nearby wall, leaning her head on it as she began to count. “How are the rest of the kids supposed to know she’s it?” You asked curiously “I’ll go tell them. She takes a while to count.” Jay began to walk off “Oh and by the way! You better hide too.” Jay left the room.

You glanced towards Bonnie, watching her struggle to count “-ten.. eleven.. twelve..” she counted out loud “…” she stayed quiet for a moment “thirteen.” You whispered to her “..thirteen.. fourteen..” she continued counting. You furrowed your eyebrows for a moment ‘Maybe I really should go and hide, I should join their fun little game.’

You left the kitchen and started to look around for a place to hide ‘where’s a good spot to hide..? I don’t wanna go anywhere I’m not supposed to either..’ you pondered to yourself, kneeling down behind the couch and seeing a crawl space right there. ‘A crawl space? They’ll never find me.’ You pushed the little door open a little, inspecting the hole with your eyes before hesitantly crawling in ‘.. maybe that’s a bad thing actually.’

Hands and knees were now aching, stinging and slightly red from having to crawl the whole way. You finally made it to the end of the crawl space, seeing a small yet big enough room; big enough for you to stand in at least. You stood up and started to look around, your breath getting caught in your throat as you saw something weird something off. You were definitely not supposed to be here.

Looking straight at you was a picture frame with a photo of you right in the middle of a table, the photo looking badly damaged. You didn’t recognise the picture of yourself at first, you couldn’t remember yourself nor the kids nor Finn taking it of you. It was a simple photo of you looking away, the outside world in the background behind you. Around the picture frame was many little tea light candles, most of them already been lit before, you could tell from the melted wax.

You reached out hesitantly to touch some of the weird things around the photo of yourself, one thing immediately catching your eye. You grabbed what looked to be a lock of hair inside of a small bag, making you grimace and drop the bag back onto the table. You didn’t wanna be there anymore, you didn’t wanna see anymore of the shrine! You-

You took a deep breath, deciding to give the family the benefit of the doubt. Surely, this was just a weird thing that the kids had made, you didn’t need to get upset over it. That’s what you believed for a quick moment at least, hope fleeting before your eyes. You felt a chill going up your spine, turning around in fear only to see a child standing there in front of you.

“Neptr?” You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, watching as he stood to the side and revealed the rest of the kids standing there too. Jay finished coming out of the crawl space, standing there in front of you now with a look you couldn’t make out. “Yeah Dad, they’re in here..” Jay called out, facing towards the crawl spot. Your heart dropped and your blood ran cold, what in the world was going on?

“Y/n, I’m so sorry. I didn’t wanna do this but- please don’t leave! You’re the closest thing our family has had to a parent since our mother died!” Jay began to plead with you “Yeah! Please stay, we need you. And you like us, right? Right?” Bonnie asked, trying to put on the cutest little face ever in order to manipulate you into staying.

“That’s enough, kids.”

Your eyes switched from the kids over to Finn who had finished coming out, he was sweating and panting like he’d just been on a run. “Finn, what IS all of- this?” You gestured towards the shrine “You weren’t supposed to find it.” Finn started stepping towards you, making you walk backwards until you eventually bumped into the shrine. Your back pressed against the table, making you scrunch your face up in pain for just a moment.

“Careful there.” He grabbed your waist and pulled you away from the table, making sure you wouldn’t be hurt.

“What. Is. This. Finn?” You repeated, letting him know you were definitely upset with him. “I made it in your likeness, you like it?” Finn’s eyes darkened for a moment, and for a moment it was just like he had become the ice monster again. “No!- it’s creepy! Why and how have you gotten this stuff?” You tried not to get too upset because of the kids standing there, even though you wanted to shout and scream at Finn for the weird shit he’s done.

“Please don’t be mad at Dad, he just likes you is all! Please don’t leave us, we really like you here!” Bonnie started to give the puppy dog eyes, pouting her bottom lip out at you. “It’s true, I do like you. I’m sorry for the weird shrine, I just- have a hard time expressing my feelings for people and I mistakenly thought you’d enjoy it. Please, allow me to fix this. Don’t leave us..” Finn was definitely manipulating you. But despite knowing that fact, a part of you still wanted to believe it, so you stayed.

“You thought.. I’d like this weird thing?” You didn’t trust his words exactly “..Yes, I thought you’d find it flattering. I’m so sorry. I’m not a bad guy, I’m really not. You know that, don’t you?” Finn came up a little closer to you but this time you didn’t back away “I- I mean..” he wasn’t exactly wrong per say. You remembered the many times he was kind to you, giving you food when you had none and even sheltering you at times. “Fine. You know what then? Leave if you wish, I won’t stop you. I know that you don’t really care about us, or like us-“ you cut Finn off.

“Of course I like you guys!” You exclaimed, not realising you were falling into Finn’s trap. “Really, you do? Oh, but then why do you wanna leave us so badly?” Finn gave a fake saddened look, tricking you into feeling sorry for him “Did we do something wrong?” Stormo and Neptr asked in unison. “N-No, nothing wrong! It was just a mistake is all, and Finn was right-it is… sort of flattering.” You couldn’t help giving in, all the manipulation getting to you.

“So, you’ll stay? Stay with us?” Finn looked directly into your eyes, it felt intimidating. “Y-Yes.” You weren’t even sure if you had a choice, what would of happened if you’d said no? “You make me the happiest man in the world! Y/n’s not leaving Kids!” Finn hugged you, squeezing your torso with his stronger arms. It was only a simple hug, and yet it was also a reminder that he really could crush you if he wanted to.

“Yay!” The kids came around to hug you as well, the whole family and you hugging each other. “Okay, okay, that’s enough..” Finn broke the group hug apart “Kids, please the two of us alone for now.” Finn instructed “Okay dad!” Bonnie started to leave, the rest following not long after her. Jay was the last to leave, turning his head back to look at the two of you for a moment “See you later, mom/dad/parent.”

His words had unknowingly trapped you, you couldn’t leave him and the family when you were seen as their new parent! It’d be wrong. And you’re not a ‘bad person.’

“I just- wanted to talk to you..” Finn spoke up, startling you. “About?” You questioned “Its true, I really do like you. I’m sorry about this whole mess. I just haven’t liked anyone in a long time and so I didn’t know what to do with my feelings.” Finn was lying through his teeth, and yet you had went and bought it. “I.. guess I can understand that.” You sighed “I fell in love with you because of your personality, you’re so kind to me and the kids- and you’re such an honest and smart person.” He stepped a little closer towards you.

You didn’t back away this time, but you weren’t sure what to do. “Do you feel the same way, at all?” Finn’s voice grew slightly deeper at the end there which sent a chill through your whole body. “Well..” you began to think to yourself, not sure what to say “- yes. At least a little.” You confessed, not knowing what you’d gotten yourself in to. Finn gave a big bright smile before opening his big strong arms up and pulling you into a tight hug, lifting you into the air by your waist.

“Yes! Amazing! Now I don’t have to make you like me.” Finn couldn’t help let that bit slip, making your eyes widen slightly “W-What?” You questioned “I think I can hear the kids calling for their mom/dad/parent.” Finn distracted you, which you then again fell for. “They are? I’m coming!” And you immediately went to them, because that’s just who you are. You’re a nurturer, a real kind and honest person, you couldn’t just leave the kids when they need you.

[cocogum]

what is waven like what happens in it

It took me some time to organize my thoughts which is why I couldn’t answer you sooner Anon but I’m here now ✨

Just before I begin though, I just want to tell you that since Waven still needs to update more (like the fact that it needs to showcase more races cuz we only got five) there will be some specific things that I will have to skip explaining because they’re not fully shown. But don’t worry, I’ll be able to explain to you the general basis of what’s going on. So at least you will know a lot more than nothing.

I started playing the game just a few days ago but I already had the context of what was going to happen way before I began playing.

So here’s how it goes:

After the events of Season 4, some events will happen in “The Great Wave” Wakfu manga (coming out on April 19 on allskreen.com) but after that, 10 years will go by and that’s where a new era called Waven will begin.

We don’t know how but we know it will somehow involve Yugo. Yugo, at some point in time, will be the next danger to the world and will invoke the most gigantic wave ever made. It’s so gigantic in fact that it will swallow multiple kingdoms and many lands. We don’t know why he will do this and we don’t know if he will do it intentionally. We also don’t know when and where he will do this. This is why the next era is called “Waven” because it’s based on the great wave that ravaged so many lands.

His wave would be such a huge disaster to the world that it will be a bigger calamity than the time Ogrest had been crying.

So now that the lands have been completely wiped out, and Yugo’s body count is higher than ever, the World of Twelve will somehow survive this thanks to the remaining lands that survived the disaster. These lands will be turned into islands. The main transportation will be by boat.

Kingdoms and great countries will turn into islands while other places such as Brakmar and Bonta will still be called “nations” despite not looking like one. A lot of people died obviously but they don’t specifically tell you. You can just tell by how it all looks.

Based on the screenshots I took for you, here are the places that will remain in the world (listed in order by how I placed them) :

Vampyre Boat

Brakmar nation

Tofu island

Amakna nation

Crackler island

Whisperer island

Bwork island

Chafer island

Bonta nation

Gobball island

Albuera nation

Pig island

Taur island

There might come more locations in the future but who knows.

If you’re wondering about the characters then no worries. The main characters are still alive which is a relief at least.

For the Percedal family, Evangelyne, Dally, Elely, Goultard, and Pin are still here. Pin grew up a bit and now looks to be Elely’s age. He can be seen tagging along with his father everywhere he goes.

We don’t know where Elely is yet but Tot did say that she was going to have her own series during Waven so all is good for her. As for Flopin, he’s alive as well. His progress with Madagaskan will be shown in the future.

For the minor characters, we can actually see that some of them have survived the great wave as well.

We can see Ogrest lazing around and singing in his garden. Given his peaceful behavior, I’m guessing Otomaï and Dathura are doing okay too.

We can also see Elaine with her father as well as Bordegann and Kabrok with his wife still working in their shop.

We even see Lotie, an osamodas girl that Yugo and Adamai met in Season 1 AND have seen her again in the manga. She can now be seen fully grown and playing with Igor.

Her father and brother don’t seem to be around the area and her speeches didn’t involve or mention them in any way.

Goultard is very much alive and well. He teaches you how to defeat the shushus as soon as you wake up and choose a race. He’s kind of like your guide for how the fighting is supposed to work in Waven.

Speaking of which, the main enemies you will have to face off as of now, are shushus.

There are giant floor openings in different locations of the World of Twelve that let out shushus and are quickly spreading around the world. You, as the player, have to get rid of them while also battling some characters that have gotten possessed by them. Also, you can actually get to see some gods (for now you can only see the Cra goddess) from their former selves in need.

The Cra goddess, for example, can be seen but she seems to have her whole body missing. Her head is the only thing intact and Evangelyne decided to check up on her.

We also get a piece of information from Astrub that helps us understand the world better and how the people reacted to the change:

“To whoever reads these lines: you are a survivor. You have been chosen to help rebuild the World After. You are one of us, and we welcome you. Welcome to Astrub.

The lands of Before are but a memory.

When the Great Wave crashed down ten years ago, it ravaged everything in its path, leaving behind only ruins and desolation. A few places survived, as did a few lucky survivors. But the World of Twelve, drowned under the seething waters, died.

Heroes are gathering. In the past, they had already proven their courage and bravery in the service of the common good. Once again, they are taking the fate of the world into their hands. They are organizing themselves into four cardinal Clans to help the world rise again. A new era is dawning. Life is asserting itself. Hope for a new future is growing.

Order, Nature, Science and Trade are now working in harmony to maintain the balance in his New World. History is on the march again.”

Other than that, that’s all I have for now.

Like I said before, I’ve been playing the game for over a week now so it’s obvious that I missed a ton more info on the world not to mention that I didn’t even start talking about the remaining lands and what their deals are.

Waven is available on Steam for your PC and on the App Store for your phone if you’re interested in finding more on your own.

I’ll be sure to let the ones who can’t/don’t want to play it be able to know new things I find here cuz A LOT is going on already!

[ghostadjacentfae]

Okay so I’ve got a bit of a kinda sorta really specific af idea that I am 90% I’ll never get to despite loving to bits so imma throw it to the wild and maybe some of you will like parts of it too. Okay? Okay. 

Basic version: DP x DC prompt where Danny’s gotten deaged as part of another bid for the power of Ghost King. The title that Danny now is heir to. Jazz takes the now like 4-to-8 year old Danny, who barely remembers anything besides Jazz Good and Vlad Bad, and flees to Gotham to find help from somebody that Vlad won’t expect them to seek out help from. To leave Danny with while she goes into the Ghost Zone herself to look for help/a solution.

Longer one where I’ve gone a little very insane: 

DP x DC prompt where Vlad’s deaged Danny as part of another bid for the power of Ghost King. The title that Danny now has/is heir to. Either reveal gone wrong when trying to explain because how do they hide this or no reveal at all, just Jazz grabbing her even-littler-than-usual brother and booking it because there’s no time to explain if they’re to keep Danny way from Vlad. Couldn't go into the zone bc for as many allies as Danny has there, there's also so many enemies that could intercept them before they could reach those allies to inform that help is needed (and who knows, maybe the parent's Fenton removed access to their portal from their kiddos for some reason). Danny is still halfa obvs but he doesn’t remember any details about anything. Jazz is Home. Creepy vampire man Bad. Furries in black with masks Do Good (and Jazzy tells him to trust them so he will). Clowns Very Bad. 

 In Gotham, Jazz doesn't try the keeping low thing. Well she does; not using anything besides cash and fake names, ancients what she wouldn’t do for a shower but places want credit cards goddamnit, to not bring attention on them from Vlad. Maybe she’s got a burner to get updates from Sam and Tucker on, about the status of Amity or if they’ve gotten anywhere on their end of the search for a solution, but they all know Vlad is watching them so they don’t know where she and Danny are or what she’s doing. Which is that she goes out at night looking for the bats and birds on purpose to get help for her brother, making waves in the rumour mill but staying hidden during the day. It takes a while; longer than they have time for really and she gets more stupidly desperate. Danny’s with her for every stupid stunt, usually hidden for safety but never so far that she can’t get to him if in seconds if it turns out they’ve gotten tracked down. She won’t run the risk of leaving him in their safe house of the day without her to come back and find him gone.

She decided on Bats rather than Supers or others bc an overshadowed superhero??? Bad. The bats and birds are either Entities not unlike she and Danny are (liminal!jazz agenda my beloved (honestly most of amity park but that’s not quite relevant here)) and thus immune, or they're very trained regular people. Those can still pack a punch but it's not something she can't fight against if they can’t actually be trusted. Not something she hasn't already fought against in the months she’s been in Team Phantom. Not something she hasn’t already fought against while making her escape with Danny.

Leaving Danny with them is going to take every ounce of trust she can muster.

She finds Red Robin or Nightwing first I think and gives the most bare bones of an explanation. Doesn't mention deaged, simply at-risk heir to The Throne Of Infinity and there's a bid for the crown right now by a man that’ll be another tyrant, and "by the ancients, you need to protect him. I'm the best he's got right now but I can't keep him safe and find our allies". That they aren’t metas but there’s too much to explain. "Maybe Danny will explain if he can but just. It'd be so much simpler if we had super powers. Wouldn't have to worry about enemies overshadowing anyone to get them to shoot us if we were all just metas." 

She’s got a bag of Tech, just whatever she and Danny could grab and Go. And a third of it lost when Jazz dropped half of hers in order to pick up Danny to run faster. Think nearly finished schematics, a blaster or two, one Specter Deflector, what may or may not just be a toaster, and crammed into his bug-bag. Or school backpack. A corner of the bag is green with dried ectoplasm from a broken vial that got shattered in the mad dash. 

(I’m a little attached to it being Tim she leaves Danny with. Maybe he tries to pawn him off on one of his brothers, but Danny's already like, imprinted on him. Very "YOU promised Jazz to keep me safe. Jazz left me with YOU >:C" y’know? Or cuz she stressed so very much that he cannot be left without someone guarding him, and bats don't exactly want identity reveal he can't really be left in the cave under the watch of Agent A since Alfred needs to do other things, he gets handed around a little bit between them as heroes only and it's just Timmy's bad luck that he really likes this clever snarky little bean 's the one stuck with Danny on the occasion that plot happens. I just like Tim & Danny time.)

I'm thinking plot tool of Jazz with one of Wulf's claws? As a thing that lets her get into the Zone without portal access or the speeder after finding a Bat to leave Danny with. But no control of where she'll show up, hence not using it when their parents portal wouldn’t work. It Works Like That™ because I Say So™, tho if you have a less mystery McGuffin reliant idea this is by no means obligatory. Just an excuse on a silver platter.

Also tiny Danny, barely awake, trying to grab Jazz and saying not to go cuz it's dangerous/he needs her, only for his hand to go intangible through her. Did I mention yet that he doesn’t have control of his powers?

And of course, Vlad tracks Danny down. 

And he’s big bad.

[thezombieprostitute]

Changing Minds - Part 5

Summary: Your long time work acquaintance Nick Fowler offers to take you to a fancy fundraiser as a way of cheering you up. He insists it's only as friends but when he sees you falling into the grasp of someone he knows is no good, he might change his mind on that.

Word Count: ~1.2k

Warnings: Implied violence and attempted murder. Please let me know if I missed any.

A/N: Reader is an older female (late 30's +).

Part 4 -- Part 6

Series Masterlist

You don’t get much sleep and finally give up trying when you get a phone call from your boss letting you know you’ve been given a week off to recover. You’re strongly tempted to dip into your regular time off and take a vacation but then you remember you’re being watched. Could you really enjoy a day on the town if someone’s trying to kill you or use you to send a message? Would you be able to relax at the beach if you know you’re not being protected by more than just Nick?

Ugh. Nick, you think bitterly. You know he couldn’t have predicted Mr. Kent’s interest in you. Nor the following incidents. But still, if he had just let you mope in private about your family issues, if he hadn’t been…if he hadn’t been the friend you really needed. You really can’t stay angry at him. You’re not ready to apologize to him, if you even need to apologize, but you’re ready to no longer be angry.

You walk back out to the main living area and it almost looks as if Nick hasn’t moved from his spot on the couch. The only reason you know he didn’t is because of the mug of tea in his hands. He’s staring at nothing. 

“Nick?”

Your voice startles him out of his trance. He spills a little of the tea in surprise and he realizes it’s been sitting so long it’s gone cold. “Yes,” he questions, “what do you need?” His icy blue eyes are practically begging you for ways to make things right. 

“Update from my boss, I’m not going to work for at least a week,” you report. “I don’t know if you need to tell your security team about that.”

“I’ll let them know,” he grabs his phone and starts texting. “They’ll still monitor, in case someone comes by looking for you, but it’ll help them prioritize.” You nod and he continues, “are you going to go right back to work after that or take some more time off?”

“I really don’t know,” you sigh. 

“That’s okay,” he quickly asserts. “We’ll take this a day or two at a time, okay?” You nod in agreement. “In the meantime, how about some food? We’ve got people watching your apartment so I can go get you some lamb curry from Shalimar. Or I can have someone else go pick it up, pretend it’s a GrubHub delivery.”

“How did you know I like lamb curry,” you interrupt him. “Specifically from Shalimar?”

“One or two of our conversations, we’ve talked about lamb,” he says. “Complaining about how difficult it can be to find at a reasonable price around here. I did some checking while you were asleep and Shalimar is the only place that delivers around here and has a reasonably priced lamb curry.”

“I’m impressed,” you admit, nodding your head. “Whichever option is safest, I would absolutely love some lamb curry.”

“Okay,” Nick gets up from the couch. “I’ll go and get it. Can’t have too many people in and out of the area lest one of our people gets ID’d. We’ve got Jake monitoring the security cams at your building’s doors and a couple of…bruisers are setting up in another apartment. They get a notice from Jake they’re at your door in seconds.”

You’re not sure you’re ready to be alone but you don’t want to tell Nick that so you just nod. As soon as he’s out the door you rush to lock it. You try to do some reading, make some tea, turn on the TV, anything to distract yourself but it’s not working. Every noise makes you jump and the silence isn’t better. You curl up into a ball on the couch and just wait for Nick to get back.

Nick is completely on edge the entire trip to the restaurant. He’s hyper-alert and constantly second guessing his perceptions. Is that car really following me or is it a coincidence? Was that shadow moving or am I moving too quickly? He’s continually checking his phone to see if there are any new messages, any texts that you’re in danger. He needs to calm down but he finds he can’t because he’s too scared about you. Specifically, he’s scared to lose you.

Yes, he was trying to play at being interested to keep you safe. Yes, you’re convinced that he has only ever wanted to be friends. But the bomb scare woke something up in him. You were in danger and he couldn’t get to you. He had failed you. In so doing, he realized he actually did want to be more than friends with you. His chaotic, hellish life was made so much more bearable with you around. Stable, kind, intelligent you. 

But now you were, justifiably, pissed off at him. He volunteered to get the food not because it was safer, but because he figured you needed your space from him. He kept screwing up everything and that was throwing him off kilter. He’s always been surefooted, careful, sharp. Now it felt like he was drowning in quicksand. He needed to get his head together if he was ever going to be able to pull himself out of this mess. 

Inside the restaurant he places his order to go, getting himself a little something to eat as well. He pretends to be interested in his phone while he waits, actually keeping a side eye on the door. He considers your requirements for the fake dating and remembers he should also get you a small gift. He ponders for a minute, looking around the restaurant before he hears his order number. He leaves the restaurant, still on high alert, but with a determination to make this up to you. To keep you in his life. 

You receive a text message from Nick saying that he’s back and he’s about to knock on the door. Sure enough, you hear two knocks but you still check through the peephole to be sure. You unlock the door and let Nick in. Along with the promised food, he’s also carrying a stuffed animal, a puppy holding a bone in its mouth. You can’t help the little “aww” that escapes you, seeing this dangerous man holding such a soft, adorable toy. He smiles a little and hands it to you. You don’t hesitate to take it and squeeze it tight. It helps you feel a little better. 

“Thank you for the gift, Nick,” you smile softly.

“Well, you said to bring a gift every time I see you.”

“I…I meant that as part of the fake dating thing. You didn’t have to start so soon.”

“I wanted to,” he asserts. “Especially if it’s something that might help you.” 

You see the pain in his eyes, see the sincerity written all over his face, so you nod and whisper “thank you”. The two of you eat your meal in silence, just some background noise from a show you pretend to pay attention to. You’re still not ready to tell him you feel safer with him around. You don’t know you’ll ever be ready for that. But this is a nice step towards that. 

Part 4 -- Part 6

Series Masterlist

Tags:

@alicedopey

@jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory

@rebekahdawkins

@texmexdarling

If you'd like to be tagged, please let me know.

[aliciameade]

Darkness at Dawn - Ch. 6

Title: Darkness at Dawn Author: aliciameade Rating: M/E Pairing: Stephanie Smothers/Emily Nelson Summary: Even Bonnie & Clyde met their fate eventually.

Set five years after "Baby."

Also on AO3

Happy Pride Month. 😈

“Back so soon?” 

Stephanie smiles at the guard manning the visitation desk after passing her freshly printed Rhode Island driver's license through the window. “Couldn’t stay away. You all make it so hospitable.”

He registers her in the system with a laugh and returns her ID. “Make sure you stay on this side this time, Ms. Smothers.”

“I’ll do my best,” she replies politely, though she knows she’s about to wish she was on the other side. She drops her wallet into her purse and takes a seat, waiting until they call her name.

It has taken months to resurrect her old life, to get her documentation in order, and to work with her attorney to dismantle her manufactured identity. Most of what they’d established in Santorini had been seized by the government; Greece didn’t hesitate when it came to finding sources of money. But she was able to transfer ownership of her bakery to her assistant manager. Was able to send a note to Emily’s football team, assuring them that Coach Reid was okay and that she’d had to return to the USA for a family emergency and sent her apologies and is cheering them on from afar. She could only hope that news of their arrest and deportation hadn’t gotten to the students, even if all the parents knew.

She spent hours on the phone with their friend Helen, who’d been so good to them for so long and looked after their boys without question. She had a lot of questions and Stephanie answered them as politely and vaguely as she could get away with, mostly deflecting to ask about their friends in the community.

It’s taken months to petition the court to finally allow her to visit Emily. Detective Summerville had the district attorney fight it every step of the way, arguing the two of them together were too dangerous, but her attorney had won out: the argument? Emily Nelson is in prison. There’s nothing Stephanie visiting her could possibly do that would result in more broken laws.

She can’t help the tears that come when she sits down across from Emily for the first time, a pane of glass and a lifelong prison sentence separating them. She picks up the receiver and presses her hand to the glass. Emily does the same.

“Hi, baby,” Emily says, emotion evident even in her own usually steady voice. “You look good.” She’d put extra effort in today; she wanted to look especially nice today.

Emily looks good, too, despite her time in prison. Emily will always look good to Stephanie.

“Are you okay?”

“Surviving,” Emily says cooly. “But I miss you. I miss knowing you’re close.”

“I miss you, too, Em. Why did you do it?” she asks, voice croaking as the tears overwhelm her. “Why?”

“Because you didn’t deserve any of this. You’re too good for this. Too good for me.”

“That’s not true at all. Don’t say that.”

Emily shakes her head. “Look at me, baby. This is who I am. It’s who I’ve always been.” Stephanie knows she’s harkening back to her life before she became Emily Nelson. That she and her dearly departed twin sister had burned down their home and killed their father. “Enough about me; how are the boys? Tell me what’s going on. Tell me everything.”

Stephanie gives her as much of an update as she can in the thirty minutes they’re allotted. She and Miles are living in a small apartment in Providence. She’d chosen it, much to Sean’s dismay, to be close to Nicky as Sean was now a professor at Brown University. The boys had been through so much; they deserved to be allowed to remain brothers. Sean finally agreed to allow Stephanie to see Nicky, but only in public, in a controlled setting to ensure she doesn’t kidnap him. Not that she would, not now. His life is finally stable again. He’s in his first year of high school, like Miles. He still calls Stephanie ‘mom.’ It irritates Sean something fierce, but he doesn’t interfere with it, and he doesn’t monitor their phone calls anymore. She has a job at a local bakery. Miles had played baseball in the Spring and was now thinking about hockey. Nicky was trying out for wrestling.

She’s been working on explaining to the boys everything that happened, though she’s elected to leave out the violent details. They’re old enough to know their mothers didn’t make the wisest choices, even if, at the time, they felt like the correct ones to make, that they were chasing a utopia that perhaps they weren’t owed. She’d explained that Emily had a twin sister who was troubled, and they’d used that to their advantage to erase Emily and her secrets, to collect life insurance benefits, and to live a new life together. She’d explained that it was wrong and selfish and that it had been what they thought was the easy way out.

Time proved that it was not.

“I’m working on it,” she answers when Emily asks if Sean will ever allow Nicky to visit her. “He might be coming around. Your confession took the wind out of his sails. He wanted you to suffer and I think he’s starting to realize you’re suffering in your own way now. Give it time.”

Emily wipes away a shed tear and nods. Stephanie was released six months ago. Emily hasn’t seen her son in more than two years. “All I got is time.”

“Five minutes!”

Emily bitterly laughs at the coincidence of the officer on her side of the glass warning her that she’s almost out of time.

“Do you need anything?” Stephanie hurries along the conversation. “How’s your commissary? I can make a deposit today while I’m here.”

“No, I’m good.” Emily looks down at her lap. “Listen, baby, you have to go live your life now.”

Stephanie’s heart stops. “That sounds a lot like you’re saying goodbye.”

“I am.” When she lifts her head, there are tears on her cheeks. “You can’t throw away your life for me. You have to live it or I did this for nothing. You deserve to be happy.”

“But you’re the one who makes me happy!”

“I can’t do that anymore. Not from here.” Emily presses her left hand against the glass again and Stephanie remembers how it used to look with the wedding band Stephanie had placed on her ring finger. “If you meet someone, don’t shut them out. Promise me you’ll let yourself find happiness. I need you to promise me that.”

Stephanie hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t expected Emily to break up with her. She’d expected today to be the first of a lifetime of visiting her wife in prison, and had already been organizing her life to take the situation into account. She aligns her hand with Emily’s and struggles to reply.

“I love you, baby. That’s never, ever going to change.” Emily says it with such conviction that Stephanie can feel her heart crack. “Promise me you’ll let yourself be happy.”

Stephanie’s shaking her head, tears streaming down her face. “I promise,” her voice cracks over the words. “But I’ll still come visit you. I’ll bring Nicky as soon as I can. And I’ll bring Miles; he wants to see you, too.”

“I’d like that,” Emily says as she pushes tears away with the sleeve of her maroon sweatshirt. “Thank you for giving me the best years of my life.”

The sob that escapes Stephanie makes Emily follow suit.

“I love you,” she says, trying in vain to reach Emily through the glass. “I’ll never love anyone the way I love you.”

“I know, baby.” Emily kisses her fingertips and touches them to the glass in front of Stephanie’s lips. “I know. Listen, I gotta go.”

She hadn’t noticed the guard standing right behind Emily. They’d gone overtime.

“No! Em!” She watches Emily hang up the phone as the guard pulls her away by the chain around her waist until she disappears through a metal door.

Her own receiver falls to the counter and she drops her head to her hands, sobbing uncontrollably until a woman, another visitor she supposes, takes her gently by the shoulders and helps her all the way out to her car.

She doesn’t remember the drive home.

~*~*~*~*~*~

[ohtobeleah]

I’m sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for this next update.

The B.OB series

Word Count: 5.5k

Warnings: mentions of miscarriage. Fluff, Angst. Bob Floyd pairing. Jake Seresin antagonist 

----------------------------------

“I want to treat this as a misscarrige—“ you couldn’t quite process what Bomber was saying. You were watching her lips moved as she spoke to you but the sound of your heartbeat beating in your ears drowned at the chief medical officer aboard the HMAS Hammersley. “Do I nessisarily think it’s a miscarriage? No—but protocol would see you be flown back to base as soon as possible to be seen by an OB if it were to be.” She spoke as carefully as she possibly could as she finished up examining you, pulling her stethoscope out of her ears and placing it around her neck. “I’d like those protocols to be followed.”

“What exactly happened then?” Hangman stood in the corner of the medical bay, his arms crossed over his chest as he tried not to not linger his eyes on you.

Jake Seresin was a lot of things, you’d argue he was self centred, selfish, juvenile, reckless, self destructive and above all—obnoxiously egotistical. But he’d proven yet again that when things got bad? He’d be there. A true friend. You couldn’t bring yourself to look his way either, opting to stare directly up at the ceiling as your hands cupped your stomach.

“It’s perfectly natural for bleeding to occur in the first eight weeks of pregnancy, it’s why most mothers don’t realise they’re pregnant this early on because they think it’s either a light flow or they’re late period coming in.” Bomber explained as she packed her things away. “I don’t think you’re having a misscarige, I think that the stress of an escalated argument brought it on.” Bomber looked Hangman’s way as he stared back at her, he knew that the situation you had both just been in could have been avoided very easily if he had just said congratulations. “But I want you to see someone for a second opinion.”

“I need to call my husband.” You sat up slowly with a soft groan. “Need to talk to Bob, he’ll kill me if I don’t tell him something’s happened.”

“Good things he’s not the type to say I told you so—“ Jake mumbled under his breath, just enough so that you’d hear him.

“Yeah, he’s more the type to leave that up to the jerks.” You hissed back. Completely and utterly exhausted. Bomber just chuckled to herself as you and Hangman bickered back and forth.

“I’ll go tell Ro to have the radio ready to contact Navcon.” Bomber interrupted as she let a gentle hand fall to your shoulder. An all knowing smile on her face, full of sympathy. “Go home ma’am, get checked out, there’s always another Operation Specialist on call, but this is your family.”

Captain Flynn made his presence known soon after. Already in the process of figuring out who would take you place. A decision he didn’t take lightly. You were the best of the best, any choice under you would be just that. A disservice to this mission. To the Navy.

“Radar—“ Captain Flynn went to speak but you were quick to cut him off.

“With all due respect sir—“ you paused for a moment. Thinking for a second about what you were about to say. “I think I’m okay, and I’d like to stay aboard and—“

“Are you on crack?” Jake hissed as he stepped forward from the corner of the room. Completely and utterly dumbfounded at your request to stay. “You were just told two seconds ago by a medical professional to get a second opinion!”

“I feel fine!” You snapped back, sitting up and you let your legs hand over the medical bed. You knew you were being stubborn, but stubborn is what got you here in the first place. So successful in your career.

“Yeah well, I beg to differ—“ Jake hissed at you. “You look like you just had a major medical episode, and Bob, you know? Your HUSBAND, who’s probably going to have a heart attack when he hears about this, is going to beg and plead that you get that second opinion—“ Jake paused, he was going to say your name, your call sign, but after the blow up in the galley. He settled for sonority. “Ma’am—“ you took it all in. Letting a sigh escaped as you stood. Fixing your uniform the best you could. Ignoring what Hangman had to say as his nostrils flared. His words fell on deaf ears.

“Requesting to return to duty, sir.” You uttered out. Hangman groaned in defeat as he pushed past you, exiting the medical bay in anger. He cared too much about you to watch you suffer, but he wasn’t going to sit ideally by. If you were going to play this game? He could too.

“I’d rather you stood down and returned to base, Radar, your health and safety is paramount at this stage.” You couldn’t tell if Captain Flynn was making a suggestion or if that was an order. Settling for the latter, you pressed.

“All due respect, sir, I’d like to continue my work and focus on making sure these aviators make it home to their families.” You paused again, trying to read Captain Flynn’s expressions. “I’m okay, Bamber doesn’t think it’s a misscarrige, and quite frankly I—“ Captain Flynn held his hand up, stopping you from finishing your sentence. “Sir—?” With a grunt in his voice and a lingering anger. He raised his tone. Eyes serious.

“My last Operations Specialist is not on board this ship for quite a few reasons, one of which was his increasing habit of leaving a large space between any sentence he happened to utter and the word, sir” Captain Flynn scolded you. “I have no question of you experience and your skill, Radar, but I suggest you pay a little bit more attention to your syntax and your health. Do I make myself clear?” You held back tears, perhaps it was for the best that you returned home. Hell, maybe even Jake was right—he wasn’t going to be the worse you had to deal with. With a nod and pressed lips you replied, still trying to process the entire event that had transpired.

“Yes sir Captain Flynn sir.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~

Bob didn’t have his phone on him. Up on the roof cleaning out the guttering, Bob wiped the sweat from his brow. Pulling piles of decaying leaves out of the gutters that ran all the way around the home you shared. A job he told himself time and time again that he’d get around to doing but never did. Making it ten times harder for himself as he watched the piles drop from his gardening glove clad hand to the ground below. Yet another job he’d have to complete— tidying up the lawn.

“I should have brought a garbage bag up here.” Bob mumbled to himself before he made the decision to descend the ladder. Doing exactly so, Bob made his way to the kitchen to grab the roll of garbage liners from under the kitchen sink. His phone vibrating on the island bench. His heart sank into the pit of his stomach when it caught his attention. The caller ID only meaning one thing. Picking his phone up with a shaking hand, Bob answered.

“Lieutenant Floyd speaking.” Bob's voice was mousy. He could breathe, he’d forgotten how to use his lungs. Was this the phone call he’d been dreading?

“Jesus Bob the Radio Officer was about to throw me overboard if you didn’t pick up this time!” Jake hissed with a sigh of relief. Ro was a decent enough guy but he had his limits—especially when there were other pressing matters to attend to. His time was valuable and at this very moment he left like Hangman had been wasting it like a gluttonous child. Bob couldn’t quite make out who was speaking. Uttering out whatever his brain would allow him to.

“I’m sorry, who is this?” Pulling his phone away from his ear to look at the caller identification again. Bob confirmed again where he thought the call was coming from. Navcon.

“It’s Hangman, Jake, Jake Seresin man c’mon—“ Bob's eyes grew with curiosity. More confusion bubbled to the surface as he walked around the kitchen, leaning back against the island bench as he crossed his arm over his chest. Holding his phone in the other.

“I’d say it’s good to hear your voice but I’m not too sure why I’m hearing it entirely—“ Bob questioned with a tone of annoyance in his voice. Why on god’s green earth would Jake Seresin be radio calling him.

“Listen, I’m on board the HMAS Hammersley, it’s Renee—she’s” Jake couldn’t finish his sentence quick enough before Bob’s ears were heating up. His face? hot to the touch. His heart racing.

“What about my wife?” The panic was so evident in Bob's voice Jake decided it was best to rip the Band-Aid off instead of beating around the bush.

“You remember how you asked me to look out for her?” He sighed, letting his elbow lean against the small Radio Officers desk. The headset he wore making his ears sweat.

“Regrettably—“ Bob still to this day thought that asking Hangman to watch you back was not one of his finest moments. He tossed it in the blinded by love, adrenaline mixed with stupidity basket.

“Yeah well, she’s being sent back stateside, Bomber said it’s nothing serious but it’s best she gets back stateside as soon as she can.”

“What the hell is going on!?” Bob raised his voice slightly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he looked around for his car keys.

“We got into an argument.” Jake began to explain, only to have Bob chime in before he could get to the punch line.

“About—What exactly? what could you two have been butting heads over so aggressively she needs to be sent back to base?” Bob huffed as he continued to look for his keys. Why weren’t they in the key bowl by the front door? Huffing out a frustrated grown Bob stood still, his mind racing.

“She let it slip she’s pregnant alright? I know! Congratu fucking lations but the way.” Jake spat in Bob's ear. “She started feeling unwell, there was blood and—“

“No, don't say it.” Bob felt sick, physically sick to his stomach. Everyone used to tell him that the sky might fall one day, but he never really believed them. But in that moment Bob felt his whole world shatter. “Don’t you dare tell me—“

“It’s not, she’s okay, just needs the proper people to confirm it.” Hangman confirmed with Bob, he knew he’d be unraveling at the seams. “The Medical Officer said not to worry, but to get a second opinion.”

“Jake—what would you do if a Medical Officer told you not to worry?” Bob questioned as he held back tears, anger pooling in his stomach and love leaked from every part of him. He needed to get to you, hold you, comfort you and be right by your side for whatever was to happen next. Jake was silent for a moment, tossing up between the two truths and a lie he could tell Bob right this second to answer his still lingering question. Closing his eyes and utterly a small ‘fuck’ Jake told the truth.

“I’d worry like hell—“

***~***~***~***~***~***

On the bright side, at least you hadn’t gone too far off the coast. You could still see the horizon. The wind raced around your face as you stood by the edge of the carrier. The HMAS Hammersley would not be another notch in your belt, perhaps this was always the way it was supposed to be. Perhaps you were meant to be home with Bob. Perhaps—well maybe you just weren’t meant to be a mother? As your mind raced a million miles an hour you felt a presence lingering behind you. Tall. Brooding. Egotistical.

“How did my husband take the news?” You sassed, looking over your shoulder as Hangman came to stand beside you. His hand gripping the guard that stopped sailors from going overboard. “God I bet you took so much pleasure in that—“ you hissed. Shaking your head as you tried to control your rage. “Ro wouldn’t let me radio base, told me you’d already done that when Captain Flynn was taking shreds off me.”

“Bob’s worried about you.” Hangman replied as his eyes caught the sight of the Horizon. “I’m worried about you.” Jake's shoulders slumped ever so slightly. “I’ve seen you work exceptionally under immense pressure, I’ve seen you stand up against admirals and I’ve watched you bring home an entire team of highly skilled, highly trained aviators all the while keeping your emotions in check. Keeping it together while you had to.” You listened carefully, you didn’t remember most of your time on board the Leyte Gulf. You remembered throwing up a lot, crying. “What I wanna know is what's different this time round that’s making you so reckless with your own health?”

You let silence linger momentarily while you decided if you were going to be truthful. Because in all honesty? You were fucking terrified of the fetus that was going inside you. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to be a mother, no. You wanted that more than anything in the world. But much like Bob, you were fucking terrified to be one. You’d been responsible for other people before, in a professional manner. But this was for life, a lifelong commitment to another human. To raise them, love them unconditionally, teach them good core values, how to feel empathy. How to love and accept people. How to know right from wrong.

How could you ever not fuck that up. You didn’t have a training manual for this. You didn’t want to disappoint someone who relied solely on you. On Bob. To disappoint a child would be the biggest failure of all and you didn’t want to fail. You weren’t someone who took failure easy.

“I’m beyond terrified—“ you said just barely above a whisper. “What if, what if I’m not a good mum?” Jake looked at you like you were speaking gibberish. How could you ever doubt your ability to be not only a good mum, but one of the best. Jake couldn’t take his eyes off you.

“Get your ass on that chopper and stop doubting yourself OS.” You frowned for a second at Jake's response. “I’m serious, I’m not going to pity you.”

“I wasn’t asking you too—“

“No you were asking me to blow smoke up your ass, gas you up, list all your good qualities so that the doubt you feel about being ready or not to bring a life into this world wouldn’t be so intimidating.” Jake smirked as you stared at him speechless. There was something real about Jake that you loved to hate and hated to love. He was a good friend, despite his flaws, his inability to play well with others, and the obvious fear or rejection he called heavy on his shoulders, Jake Seresin was a damn good friend, colleague and someone you knew would always come to bat for you.

“You know I hate you right?” You chuckled, leaning into his side as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you close as he kissed the top of your head gently. A moment he’d cherish forever. There was a line there, he might have crossed it. But Jake didn’t care, because holding you as a friend was better than losing you as a fleeting lover. He’d get over it. Hopefully. Your head lulled softly to the side, resting against the dip of Jake's shoulder.

“Love is the pursuit of a fool—“ Jake smirked to himself. Knowing at that very moment you kept your eyes focused on the coastline, pining for that last kiss you shared with Bob, your loving husband before stepping aboard. A permanent truth, a means to get through. Heart swollen with your love for him. Only him.

“What did you say?” You questioned as you pulled away. Hearing the helicopter settle on the helipad. A gentle hand resting across your stomach, a hopefulness returned. If Jake could now, He'd tell you never to love Bob, that he could give you everything and then some. Would walk across water, would run across fire, he’d lay his life on the line just to see you smile. He’d made a promise to take care of you, And that wasn’t a promise that would crack over time.

“Bob’s probably waiting at Navcon right now—“ Jake chose to remain a constant. Knowing to have you as a friend was better than to lose you all together. He wanted to be a part of your life, but it wasn’t up to him what part he would play. “Go, get outta here.”

“I’ll send an update.” You replied, knowing there was something else in Jake's mind. His eyes lingered way past you. Focusing on something else. A thought. “Thankyou—for just.”

“Radar—“ hangman interiors when you couldn’t find the words to say thankyou. “Go.” Jake gestured to the helicopter. Nodding you pressed your lips together before you made your way slowly to where the helipad was. Jake stood still as he watched you.

“There she goes, Seresin.” Jake spoke to himself as he watched you step up into the helicopter. His heart aching. “Let her go.”

***~***~***~****~****~***~

Bob sat quietly in the civilian waiting room at the naval headquarters. Navcon. Sure, they would have let him wait in another section. But he would have been alone. There was a lady and her two twin boys waiting in the same zone as him. Both sat playing with the toys that came from the old toy box in the corner. Their imaginations taking them a million miles away.

Bob couldn’t help but wonder who they were waiting for, perhaps their father? That would be the most obvious person.

“Who are you waiting for?” The woman who sat reading what was probably a six month old magazine asked. Bob looked at her with glazed eyes. Still trying to process what she’d said.

“Who are you waiting for?” The nurse asked sharply just as you came through the emergency room doors. Your arm in a triangle sling draped across your body. Bob stood quickly as he gestured to the nurse who looked as if she was ready to tell Bob the chair he was sitting on wasn’t for rent and he’d have to leave that he was waiting for you.

“What’s the verdict?” Bob asked as you met him in the waiting room of the Lamoore emergency department. “You good? Is it broken or—?”

“Just a popped shoulder, in this stupid thing for at least a week.” You tried to move your arm but your shoulder felt stiff. It felt like it wasn’t your own. Signing you linked your hood arm with Bobs. Walking towards the exit side by side, handing Bob your discharge papers knowing your best friend would want to read everything. “I’m fine—“

“You know in hindsight, we shouldn’t have been running in the rain.” Bob mumbled as he read what the doctor had reported.

“Yeah well, we’re lacking in our cardiac fitness Robert, you know we won’t pass without that fitness test.”

“A 10.6 seems unrealistic—“ Bob scoffed, leading you towards his car.

“It’s the multi stage fitness test Bob, it’s mandatory to at least get a 10.6.” You reminded Bob. It wasn’t something you were both necessarily good at. Running. But it was something you were working on together. Bob craved the moments alone he got with you, and the early morning runs you would go on together before going about your days before meeting back up in the mess hall for lunch were always his favourite time of the day.

He thought the way the early morning sun would hit your face made you look like a goddess. He thought the way you challenged him to keep the pace was endearing when you noticed he’d fall behind to admire you. Bob loved the way you would just listen to him, you’d laugh at his attempts at shitty jokes and would give him advice on things from holding down his breakfast when flying so he didn’t have to smell like ginger all the time to how to talk to girls. He’d only ever  use your own advice against you.

Bob appreciated how you’d carry his glasses in your bum bag when the bridge of his nose got too sweaty for them to stay on right and he would never let you run next to the road. He was always between you and whatever road you decided to run beside. Just in case.

Bed tried his best to break your fall when you slipped. He’d never make bed so quickly. But it was no use. The scream of agony you let out was a sound Bob wished he’d never hear again. Your shoulder, gone—not where it was supposed to be.  He’d never let himself live that down.

“It’s touture—“ Bob replied as he opened the passenger side door of his car for you. Trapping you inside as you stood to face him. His arm outstretched to lean against the car, the other doing the same on the open door. “And now.” Bob pretended to look at the watch he wasn’t wearing. “You have about half an hour before advanced navigation and I have about—“ Bob paused for a moment before looking at you teasingly. “About ten minutes before my tackling defence lesson.”

“Captain O’Riley is gonna make you do two hundred push ups isn’t he?” You cringed. Sliding down into the passenger's seat as Bob followed you. Crouching on the ground.

“And every single rep I’ll be thinking about you ya little clutz.” Bob teased, ruffling your hair before he stood, shutting the passengers door for you like the gentleman he was before racing around to the drivers side. Hopping in with a huff. “But in all seriousness I'm glad it’s nothing serious, you had me worried with the whole I'm dying Spiel.”

“Please—“ you cooed, your head lulling to the side. You tried to stress less about the pain that radiated over your shoulder. You didn’t want Bob wasting precious time on you. He had a career to think about, and sure his smile lit up whatever room you were in with him and you’d kill to hear him laugh. The way he made you feel like you were the only person on earth made you crave his presence more. But there was nothing more valuable than time, and to waste it sitting in a waiting room for you? “Don’t ever sit in a waiting room for that long waiting for me again, promise.” You stared at Bob as he hesitated, he knew he’d do anything for you. Come hell or high water. His best friend.

“Don’t make me make promises you know I won’t keep.”

“I’m sorry—what did you say?” Bob shook his head as he rid his mind of memories of you. The lady chuckled to herself.

“I asked who you were waiting for? You seem, well, stressed?” She cooed. Sending Bob a soft smile as her children played. “My husband is on his way home from a six month stint.” She explained. “

Petty Officer Josh Holiday.” Bob didn’t know the name, but he felt comfort in her smile. The fact he was coming home to his family, safe, was always a good thing.

“I’m uh, waiting for my wife.” Bob explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Operations Specialist Renee Soener-Floyd.” Bob beamed, he was so proud of you.

“She's been on deployment?” The lady asked, totally invested in Bob’s story. Why he was here. She sometimes wished people would ask her more often whenever she was waiting for her husband

“Just left actually.” Bob chuckled nervously. “She’s pregnant, first trimester, somethings not right so she’s being sent back to base to make sure everything’s okay. Medical officer onboard wants a second opinion from an OB.” The small smile Bob wore had faded. His heart was beating too fast in his chest for it to be considered normal. The lady sent him a solemn look. Sympathetic and caring.

“I’m sure she’ll be okay, I’ll keep you both in my prayers.” Bob couldn’t help but to question her faith. He didn’t say anything, but as he rubbed his palms on his jeans he questioned why bad things happened to good people.

“I appreciate that.” Bob replied. “Thankyou.” Sure Bob had dabbled on the edge of having faith. But as he got older, he started to wonder if all Gods, all Goddesses, from all religions could somehow all live harmoniously with one another. That was his belief—and he did pray, to whatever god or goddess would hear him. That every version of you that Bob had loved since the day he met you, his best friend, his wife, his fire, his ice, his coworker, his everything—would be alright. And he prayed to whatever otherworldly entity who’d seek pity on a man stuck down by love that his unborn child, his mark on the world, would be okay too.

“I just want my husband—“ Bob heard you just down the hall from the waiting room. You sounded drained, tried. “Where is he?” You asked, the worry that laced your Tongue had Bob shooting up out of his chair. Racing towards you. Rounding the corner his arms grew wide at the sight of you. Watery eyes. A rollercoaster of emotion overtaking, consuming every part of you as Bob took you in his arms. A solid embrace that had you hiding your face in the crook of his neck. His hand holding the back of your head close to him. His Cologne consuming you, the smell of him bringing an otherworldly comfort. “I’m so sorry—“ your voice cracked as tears streamed down your face. Had you done something wrong, was this your fault? Of course it was, it's your body. “I’m sorry I—“

“Hey—“ Bob pulled away as he cupped your face gently, the pads of his thumbs working to dry the tears that fell. Your face was hot to the touch under his palms. “You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.”

“Bob the baby—“ you whispered, your bottom lip trembling. “What if, what if somethings wrong.”

“Then we’ll get through it together, yeah?” Bob leaned in to kiss your forehead before pulling you back into his warm embracing, his heart breaking. “Forever and longer.”

Your wedding was a simple backyard intimate ceremony. Only a handful of family members and beloved friends. Bob struggled for months trying to write his vowels, he didn’t want to disappoint you, the love of his life, the most beautiful woman have ever met. He didn’t really know how to describe you, describe his love for you. All Bob really knew was that it was overpowering. So he wrote what he wanted you to know. From his heart.

“I don't believe that there was a single moment that I knew that I would marry you.” You tried your best not to cry as you read your vows to Bob. He looked so handsome, so happy. “Ever since that very first day five years ago when we met in the cafeteria of the naval academy, I knew you were something special.” You paused for a moment as you wiped your tears away. “I remember writing to my mum telling her all about the new friend I had made.” You chuckled as Bob beamed at you. Holding back his own tears. “Of course that wasn't the start of our love story, but it was the start of the best friendship I have ever known.” You took a deep breath to hold back your tears. “I used to think I needed a love that would complete me, but then I met you, and you showed me that I was already whole.” Bob wipes a tear that had escaped from his waterline. He didn’t know how he would cope with reading his own. “I know I can be a little indecisive at times, but today I stand here making the easiest decision of my life, becoming your wife. You my love are my greatest adventure and my home, today I might be giving you my hand but my heart has always been yours and forever will be.” Bob felt like he couldn’t breathe, the sight of you in your wedding dress had him melting in a puddle. His heart was full as he pulled his vows out of his back pocket. Shaky hands unfolding the paper as he cleared his throat. Nervous.

“Renee— you are the most thrilling and most heartbreaking woman I have ever met.” It was all from his heart, Robert Floyd had never been good with words, talking to people wasn’t something he was necessarily good at. But you made that easy. “The kind of woman people write novels about, sing songs about and cry deeply for.” Bob smiled as he looked up at you crying, full of joy. Full of love. “One of my greatest fears in life is to die, to its joys and pains while I’m still alive— To lose reverence.” Bob knew what you did for a living, respectfully, was dangerous. But so was being in love. “Being around you is to be relentlessly rescued Into the beauty of feeling.” Bob paused as he took a deep breath. Holding back tears although they still fell over his waterline. His cheeks stained with tears. Happiness leaking from every single atom of his being.

“Renee you are a divine gift to the world and it will never be lost on me how fortunate I am to call myself your husband. I realise that you gain a deeply piercing understanding of someone while doing difficult things with them in life. This life is short and every day I get to spend with you is a blessing and nothing less.” You reached for Bob's hand as you saw his chest heaving. He was about to lose it, crack under the pressure of unconditional love and admiration. Collecting himself with your simple touch Bob pressed on. “But I’ve come to know one thing more than anything and that is that loving a girl whose mind is like watching a thunderstorm during a sunset is something I could do forever. How long will I love you? Forever and longer.”

“I tried to call—“ you sighed, wiping your face as you exhaled. “I don’t think I was thinking all too straight in the med bay, Jake kinda beat me to it huh?”

“Yeah he’s—“ Bob paused as he questioned his own response for a second. “He’s good people.” Bob smirked at you before kissing your temple, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. Pulling you close. “Let’s go get you checked out.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~*

The doctor's office felt sterile, a clean and perfectly organised room. Bob sat as close to you as he possibly could. “I see all the vital organs are starting to develop, a good sign.” Your OBGYN Dr. Sarah spoke calmly as he rolled the ultrasound handle against your stomach. The gel cool like ice melting against you skin. “Baby is about half to three fourths of an inch, about the size of a raspberry.”

“But nothings wrong?” You asked, panic still evident in your tone. Shaking her head Dr. Sarah confirmed with you nothing was wrong.

“Everything seems to be perfectly fine with your little raspberry here, I am a little concerned about your iron levels though. They aren’t dangerously low but they’re not as high as I’d like them to be.”

“Why did she bleed on the carrier?” Bob questioned, his hand squeezing yours. “That doesn’t seem normal?”

“Rest assured dad that bleeding is totally normal during pregnancy as long as you take them seriously, you did the right thing coming back stateside mumma.” It was a sigh of relief that left you both respectfully. Bob beamed your way as he kissed your palm. Overjoyed you were alright, his baby was right. That his family was alright. “Always trust your gut.”

“I think it’s probably a good time to talk to someone about an extended stateside posting.” Bob cooed. “I don’t want you having to go through this again and something more serious happening when you're a million miles away from the nearest hospital.”

“We got kinda lucky this time didn’t we?” You replied softly.

“We did—we really did.” Bob wondered what could have happened, but he didn’t dwell for too long, promising whatever god or goddess it was that took pity on him that he’d do good by you. He’d always be there for you. That he’d continue to love you unconditionally. Making a mental note to himself to let Jake know you and the baby were in fact okay.

“Almost as if there’s people rooting for this to happen.” You teased, chuckling softly as you watched the monitor of your baby. Bob did the same. He knew what he was looking at now—a baby the size of a raspberry. “I’m rooting for this to happen.” You cooed. Bob squeezed you hand in response before whispering against your palm.

“So do I, more than anything—“

***~***~***~****~****~***~

Tags: @kkrenae @lexhalstead3 @justanothermagicalsara @luckyladycreator2 @milesrooster @a-serene-place-to-be @marantha @red-undead-raptor @shanimallina87 @sarahjoestewy-blog

[candygalaxyyy]

It’s 4 AM for me rn, I should probably go to bed because my sleeping schedule is a mess… but I’m dead set on understanding the timeline for the eighth sense. Sorry in advance for any misinformation or plot holes :) I’ve been rewatching episode 6 since Wednesday and I’ve just finished rewatching all six episodes again, safe to say things are becoming clearer. So first of all, it’s not a dream. The whole of episode 6, the drowning scene, jae won pulling ji hyun out of the water, it’s all very real. Even though the gas station scenes felt very surreal and almost mystical, especially with the lighting, blurred polaroid effect and music, but it’s still real?! People have already mentioned that on here; about it being real, time being warped with future events and other theories. And idc if this is obvious but I need it in writing to come back to.

Here’s my understanding of the past/present/future theories. Everything in episode 6 is the present, up until the trauma kiss. After the trauma kiss scene the screen fades to black, I believe that indicates a shift in the timeline being shown (it happened before but i forgot when exactly I’ll update later after I’ve watch it again). So the eighth sense is centered around jae won’s therapy session! How do I know this? Well after the opening theme in episode 1 the first scene we see is jae won at his therapist’s, and she says ‘tell me about your worries’. And so the story begins. He mentions in either episode 4 or 5 that his current worries kicked in after leaving the military so we meet ji hyun exactly when jae won’s been discharged. We still get ji hyun’s focus sometimes because as much I feel this story is jae won centered, ji hyun’s perspective gives a full picture of their relationship (have not grasped the whole story of why yet, probably to give depth to ji hyun and his importance in this story).

Jae won’s present day therapy session only appears after certain triggers are brought up, and the most telling one is him getting wasted, and his dad smashing the camera his brother gifted him (episode 5). I think this is the trigger that causes the whole therapy session, cause he mentions him putting up a front (his fake friend taehyung talking about his family), his dad aggression (broken camera) and other things we’ve seen. Furthermore, it was the longest snippet of the session we’ve seen thus far. It’s also all one session, we know this because they’re wearing the same clothes and hair in every therapy scene. Anyways, as he lets all his worries out and she asks what makes you happy these days. He thinks of ji hyun, tells her and then she says she should further their relationship if that’s the case. So he decides to take ji hyun to the beach, following the advice of his therapist and since ji hyun told him to rely on him. (present day leading to episode 6). So now we are in episode 6, going to the beach and all that good stuff, Jae won opens up because he’s just been advised to deepen his relationship with ji hyun and he feels comfortable to do so. They surf and give each other trauma through kisses… THE SREEN FADES TO BLACK.

We’ve jumped to the future, the lighting, tones and atmosphere after the trauma kisses has totally shifted from the rest of the episode, so it’s fitting to say it’s future events. To me that hotel scene is another trip in the future because they clearly say that they are only staying for that one night on the beach, because they don’t have clothes (and after them getting close on that trip it is safe to assume they will definitely go on more boyfriend trips). One reason I think the writers might have done this is to remind us of jae won’s current relationship with well deep relationships. All of his relationships after his brother and up till ji hyun were surface level. Why? Because he lost someone who he loved so deeply in such a traumatic way, he couldn’t protect his brother, he couldn’t protect his love so he chooses to disassociate from human relationships. But he can’t do that with ji hyun, he’s on his path of loving ji hyun. HE TOLD HIM SOMETHING HE’S NEVER TOLD ANYONE EVER BEFORE, HE WANT TO BE A PHOTOGRAPHER AND ONLY HIS YOUNGER BROTHER KNEW THAT. JAE WON IS ALREADY TRUSTING AND LOVING JI HYUN ON ANOTHER LEVEL THAN ALL HIS CURRENT RELATIONSHIPS. And of course after this we cut to them getting even more intimate and in their boyfriend era in the hotel, that’s their future. The drowning scene is also their future. And how will jae won react to *potentially losing another loved one after just starting to open up again (JI HYUN WON’T DIE THOUGH). How will he handle the guilt and pain he feels when ji hyun ends up in a hospital bed because of them surfing together in deeper water when ji hyun can swim that well? How will ji hyun handle it this time around?

[realpontchartrain]

How the fuck did you get into Harvard when I can’t even get into community college.

Again, my mom. As soon as I finished elementary school at age 10, my mom pulled me out of public school and decided to homeschool me instead (worst fucking mistake ever). At age 14, I was finally able to enroll in a self-paced program to earn my high school diploma and everything. Because I had been so alone and bored at home up until then (because my mom sure as fuck wasn’t actually teaching me shit at home, nor was she making sure that I got adequate social interaction), I had blown through the entire program in only 3 months since the date I enrolled (I enrolled on my 14th birthday and graduated on October 30th, I’ll always remember that because I was pissed that I didn’t wait a single day to take my final exam so that I could graduate on Halloween lmao).

Once I earned and payed off my official diploma, she took me to enroll in a local university where I began studying criminal justice (because she wanted me to become a cop just like her). After a year and a half or so, I decided that I wanted to try my luck at Harvard. Why not, the worst they could say was no. I just knew that I wanted more out of life and my college education, so I went for it. We rocked up to Harvard like, “yo, I have an accredited high school diploma and almost two years worth of college credits to transfer. I make pretty good grades, have an interesting story to tell, and have something unique to bring to the classroom (which is what Harvard looks for above all else). Therefore, I would like to transfer my credits and become a psychology major instead.”

The initial problem was that I was 15 at the time, nearing 16. They were wondering if that shit was even allowed, because they had never had a 15 year old kid with a wholeass high school diploma and nearly two years worth of college credits already looking to transfer. I had this same problem at the first university I attended — I wasn’t just a dual-credit student or someone on a scholarship, I already graduated and was halfway through my college degree and was seeking to get fully admitted into a degree program at their schools at that age. So, the president of Harvard and shit had to get together and discuss whether or not any of that shit was allowed. They eventually concluded that they never said that a degree candidate had to be a certain age in order to apply and enroll, and so they decided that they had to let me in given that I had all other qualifications and exceeded other expectations as well.

After I was admitted, Harvard then went behind my back and updated their rules to specifically mention that one has to be 18+ in order to apply, or must meet EXTREMELY strict standards for admission otherwise, which I always found funny. Soon after I finally enrolled, life went to shit with my grandma getting sick, me getting hooked on drugs to try and keep up with my mom using me as her personal bragging tool and trying to live her life through me, and my brother acting a fool. Then my brother committed suicide and my grandmother died four months after, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I temporarily dropped out, and eventually burned out altogether. I turned to drugs and crime and fucking my entire life up, along with my mom pimping me out when I was 19 and my husband getting trapped in Si-fucking-beria for years after I had just married him.

I have yet to graduate. I honestly don’t know if I ever will, or if i’ll ever take the official L and drop out for good. I’m still trekking along however, and I used to just take my classes one at a time online until I finally got my shit together (buying a home, getting settled, popping this child out my pussy, etc.). Disregarding what that one white bitch said; yes, Harvard IS hard. There was no way I could take on a full class load every semester with everything I had going on, so i was just dragging my degree along like a snail. I guess I don’t mind — they’re giving me the opportunity to study online and take however many classes I want per semester, and so I chose to take one at a time until I could finally handle more.

But yeah, now i’m a double major and picked criminal justice back up on top of psychology, and am now focusing on juggling work and school. I don’t know when or if i’ll ever graduate, i just know it’ll be a miracle if i ever do lmao

[a-separate-peace-musical]

Finale

Who else loves a good reprise medley finale?

—

Lights up. GENE cleans out his locker. HE walks outside. Troops are there, with tanks and artillery and sewing machines for parachutes. BRINKER walks over.

BRINKER

Hey, Gene. Ready to enlist?

GENE

I guess so.

BRINKER

My dad’s here. He wants to meet you.

MR. HADLEY approaches.

MR. HADLEY

Look at those doughboys! And their artillery—sewing machines!

BRINKER

This war is technical, so they’ve got to use all kinds of machines. Even sewing machines.

MR. HADLEY

Well, I can’t imagine any man in my time settling for duty on a sewing machine. I can’t picture that at all.

(to Gene)

So what are you enlisting in, son? There are so many exciting things to enlist in these days. Frogmen, the Paratroops…I’d give something to be a kid again with all that to choose from.

GENE

Well, I was going to wait, but then I figured…

Why wait to be drafted when we can choose now?

Control our own fate as much as they’ll allow

So I’m joining the Navy. I’ll never see a foxhole, I hope. And Brinker’s all set for the Coast Guard.

MR. HADLEY

The Coast Guard?!

BRINKER

You know, Dad, the Coast Guard does some very rough stuff.

MR. HADLEY shakes his head.

MR. HADLEY

What world am I living in?

Has everyone gone mad?

Get on up and be a man

‘Cause there’s a world war and real work to be had

Disappointed in kids these days

They wouldn’t know honor if it hit them in the face

If I was your age, I wouldn’t be playing it safe

You have to do what’s right

Whatever you feel is right

Just make sure it’s something you’ll be proud of in hindsight

‘Cause this is your moment

This will decide the rest of your lives, it’s true

The stories that you tell of this will define you

And you don’t wanna be the kids left behind

BRINKER rolls his eyes. MR. HADLEY walks away. BRINKER scowls.

BRINKER

Sorry about my dad.

GENE

It’s all right.

BRINKER

It’s all that World War I malarkey that gets me. I’m no hero, and neither are you. And neither is he. He never was. I don’t care what he says he almost did in World War I.

GENE

I think he just feels left out, being too old for the war this time.

BRINKER

Left out! Left out! He and his crowd are responsible for it!

The war, it started, before our time

We committed no crime

But now it’s our duty to go and die

While the ones who caused this just sit idly by

It’s all just a trade

A deal in the works for decades

We’ll take their place to pay for the mess that they’ve made

The old men made this and we’re stuck in the middle

And nobody cares, not even just a little

It almost feels like a prank they’re having

It’s such a joke but I’m not laughing

BRINKER walks away. GENE stands there, contemplating. HE turns to the audience.

GENE

I don’t think I believe him

It’d be safe if it were true

But war supersedes generation

Where there’s ignorance and fear, it follows too

HE looks around at the war reminders around him. HE looks up at the sky.

GENE

Things at Devon are different these days

The atmosphere is sadder lately

No one talks about you ‘cause I can’t talk about you

Not in the past tense, someday maybe

Now that I’ve lost you

Feels like I’ve lost myself

But I think it was long ago

that I really lost myself

In a world of my own

A separate construct of ignorance

And I missed the true separate peace we had found

What I wouldn’t give to go back to it now

The evil in the world couldn’t break you

So the evil in me did it instead

But you took it with you

Now it’s dead

It died with you

And my fears of the war, they all slip away

Like dew in the sunlight, evaporating

‘Cause what’s there to fear, when you’ve already killed

Your enemy, the fear and the hatred within

GENE marches away as PATRIOTIC MUSIC plays. Lights dim slightly.

OLDER GENE approaches and looks at the building. HE looks at the stairs Finny fell down.

ENSEMBLE

Return to Devon

1957

OLDER GENE

Things at Devon look strangely the same

Updated so they haven’t aged a day

Plus c'est la même chose, plus ça change

The more things stay the same, the more they change

Locked myself in a prison/of resentment and fear

I didn’t even realize/but now it’s so clear

But I felt no fear in the war

I felt no fear anymore

‘Cause what’s there to fear, when you’ve already killed

Your enemy, the fear and the hatred within

You took it with you

It died with you

HE goes to stare at the tree. HE places a hand on the trunk.

OLDER GENE

It doesn’t look so big and fearsome anymore

Ain't it funny how nothing endures

Not a tree, not love, not death by violence

And we find and we lose ourselves in the silence

The memory of seventeen still lingers

Our innocence, it slipped right through our fingers

We found ourselves pitted against the world and the war

We reacted with hostility to the horrors

Leper lost his mind when he saw it

Brinker lived in quiet resentment against it

Quackenbush lashed out in attack

I built up unnecessary defenses

Only Finny didn’t

He rose above

With affection and love

The rest built up Maginot lines

Against enemies in their minds

Who never attacked in the way that they thought

If they ever really existed at all

We, as a society, take a great fall

Fighting enemies that never existed at all

HE stands there, still touching the tree. Lights dim.

THE END

[yuumaofc]

//EP. 5; Did I do something wrong..?

Damn it’s been a whole ass month since I last updated this series🧍🏻 IM BEING FR RN GUYS I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES😭😭 I low key be forgetting that I’m a writer on here💀

UM SO ANYWAYS HAVE THIS UPDATE AS AN APOLOGY FOR MY MONTH LONG DISAPPEARANCE🤡

TW//

MC’s POV

It’s strange.. I don’t know how I should be feeling as of right now. The brothers have been avoiding me for at least a week now. Have I done something offensive to them? I don’t recall a moment where I could have possibly done so.. And if that were to be the case, they would speak to me face to face about it. I know them, I’ve lived with them for 2 years now!.. Maybe I just don’t know them well enough as they’re probably older than Saturns rings.

Have I wronged them? Why are they avoiding me? Why won’t they talk to me? I want to speak to hear mammon talk about ways to scam other demons, as bad as it may be. I want to hear Asmo tell me about how his photo shoot and after school spa day went. I want to listen to Levi rant about how invested he is in a new anime he’s discovered. I want to be able to have small talk with Lucifer over tea after working all day. I want to have passive aggressive banter with Satan. I want to listen to Beel give me his newest addition to his workout routine. I want to stay by Belphie’s side while he sleeps and comfort him when he has nightmares.

I want to listen to them. I want to hear them. I NEED to be with them!

I don’t think I’ll be able to live without them. I’ve become so attached to them that they’re the first thing I think of when I wake up in the mornings.

I bit my fingers and peeled tiny bits of the skin around my fingernail off. A very bad habit of mine that I thought I got rid of back in junior high school. I guess I was wrong.

My breathing became uneven as the self deprecating thoughts flooded my head and forced my composure to come loose.

MC- ‘Maybe I’m just overreacting.. Maybe they’ve just been having a bad day! Yeah that could be it. No no no you’re wrong, it’s been a whole week and they still aren’t talking to you! Something’s wrong. You’ve done something wrong. I did a bad thing!-‘

Felix- “MC? A-are you okay? I was just passing by your room and heard muttering.. I thought it was nothing till I noticed the sound of fast paced footsteps in here so I thought that I’d check up on you. I guess that was a good decision? I-I mean it- It’s not really my place to invade your privacy a-AND in no way is invading your privacy a good thing to do! I- um I was just checking up on you because.. y-your footsteps made you sound.. distressed??? I-IM SORRY FOR BARGING IN HERE AND THEN JUST RANTING NVM I-I’LL GO!-“

MC- “No!”

I lunged out at him and grabbed his wrist before he could rush out of my room. He jolted and yelped at the sudden feeling of being pulled back into my chest. I never really noticed how small he was compared to me but I don’t noticed a lot of things till I deem it whatever.

MC- “No.. Don’t go. It’s fine that you came in here.. Do you mind staying with me for a bit? I need someone to confide my feelings in and with the brothers ignoring me, I don’t think I’ll be able to confide in any of them any time soon.”

Felix- “O-oh! Okay”

As soon as he agreed to listen to me, I pulled him over to my bed and sat him down with me so that I can speak with him comfortably. It wouldn’t be very comfortable to have more than an hour long conversation with someone while standing if you have somewhere to sit.

As I rambled on and on, Felix sat across from me. Listening attentively and making small but meaningful comments every now and then. I know I shouldn’t have opened up to him so easily but I needed someone to confide in and the brothers were avoiding me so I couldn’t help it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Felix’s POV

MC fell asleep not too long ago, having cried themself to sleep after contemplating if the brothers wanted to keep them around anymore. They’re not be aware of it but it pains me to see MC so hurt. But to see MC so vulnerable but relaxed and snoring softly puts me at ease. It keeps the raging concern and worries to calm down.

“My my!~ I didn’t know you were one for watching the people you like sleep! How perverted of you, Felix~”

I flinched and looked over my shoulder to see Kain standing there with a smug yet teasing smirk displayed across his handsome face. Kain was an incubi but his drive was much more mellow than other incubi and succubi. More for seeking out the flustered faces and fluttering butterflies in your stomach.

Felix- “Kain.. Are you the reason why the brothers are avoiding MC..?”

Kain- “HmHm! You could say that~”

I hardened my stare towards him.

Felix- “How could you do such a thing?! They mean so much to MC! I may have feelings for them but that doesn’t mean you can just go and ruin their life!”

Kain- “Oh but it was that very reason that your beloved confided in you isn’t it?~”

I stiffened at his comment. He wasn’t wrong at the very least. Whatever Kain did truly did lead to MC confiding in me, causing us to grow a little closer than before. But it was cruel!

Kain- “Oh? Cat got your tongue? Hmhmhm! Silly little human boy, it seems as even though you’ve forgotten about our little deal we had!”

I gulped. Of course I remember the deal. We made it when I awoke in the nurses office two weeks ago. We made a deal to share my body whenever he pleases, just as long as he doesn’t do anything to cause MC to dislike me in anyway. When he takes control, I’m not aware of what he’s doing. It’s like I fall unconscious until he gets bored of me or something..

Felix- “N-no, I remember.. wh-what did you do..?!”

Kain smiled menacingly and covered mouth with his hand before laughing at my pitiful expression.

Kain- “Let’s just say that its for me to know, and you to find out!~”

I widened my eyes at his comment, he did something bad. Something horrible and now MC has to pay the price.

MC, my one and only, did I do something wrong..?

—

HEEYYYYY AND WE’RE DONE WITH THE FIFTH CHAPTERRRRR YAAYYY FINALLY SOMETHING AFTER A MONTH AND A HALF OF STRESSING OVER THIS CHAPTER AND SCHOOL IVE FINALLY GOT SOMETHING OUT ARE YOU PROUD OF ME I KNOW ITS SHORT BUT ITS THE BEST IVE GOT FOR NOW *sob*

Anyways, Happy thanksgivings giving to those who live in the US! Be grateful for this chapter👹

/j you dont have to be since I think it’s a little underwhelming AND I BET YOU DIDNT SEE THE TITLE BEING IN FELIXS WORDS DIDJA >:D

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@aki-maki-aki @books-and-catears @justrika @gallantys @time-shardz @m1ss-c4mrader1e @0-candlecove-0(I can’t tag you??? I could last time so idk what’s goin on unless you changed something) @avanae @slugbugg @tsunotaro-san @pichulakkjkk @bonezzzzzz @sumiiichan @valeriele3